ARD Attack
by Kabaneri
Summary: This story looks like Hundred but it is not related to it by anything but parts of the plot. There are no characters from the anime. I wrote it here because it was the most similar topic to my story. Here's the summary:Humanity is attacked by mysterious alien race the only weapon that can defeat the monsters easily is the ONE. Can the wielders of this weapon save the world?
1. Chapter 1

**The day everything began**

Ding Dong ding~~

"Haah... Finally afternoon school ended!" -said Shin.

"Yeah, yeah and tomorrow we're going to be here again." - Viki said sarcastically.

"Come on today the classes were so long, like they would take forever."- he said to her.

"Yeah right, says the guy who slept during the first half of the day. You woke up when lunch break came!" - Mary scolded him.

"Way to go Mary, keep it UP!" - Jack was cheering her from the door.

"Shut up ya womanizer!" - Shin scolded him.

"Oh, come on, we're pals. Aren't we, Shin?"

"It's time so... do you girls want to go home with me and Shin?" - Jack asked them with a sneering smile.

"We're headed to the same direction so why not." - Mary agreed.

"No way I'm going with him. He gives me strange looks!" - Viki disagreed.

"Don't be childish, he can't do anything to you while I'm here." - Shin said proudly and pointed at his chest with his thumb.

"After all the road to your home is the same for them, too. Moerover if he tries to do something funny, I'm going to beat him up." - Mary added.

"OK. I guess I have no choice. Let's go!" -Viki finnaly agreed.

"YES! Victory!"- Jack shouted triumphantly.

They headed to their homes. It was already sunset.

"It's not fair to make us studdy untill this late! We are only in the fourth grade!" - Jack complained.

"You bring this up every day! Can't you stop already!? You can't change the school order by complaining." - Viki scolded him.

"Huh?"

"What's it Shin?" - Mary looked at him.

"Oh, it's probably my imagination."

Meanwhile at the park a few blocks away.

"Waah! Mama, papa, look!" - a small girl pulls at her parents' clothes.

"What's it dear?" -the mother asks.

Then the girl points at the sky and says "Look how many shooting stars!"

The same moment every single person on the world looked at the sky. It was filled with many shooting stars but then...

 **KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!**

The shooting stars fell on the fround. Some at the wilderness and some at populated areas.

"Kyaa! Waah!" - the children shouted.

"Tthat shooting star fell!" - Viki screemed.

"Wait! Near there is my house!" - Shin said and hurried towards the place of the crash.

"Shin! Wait for us!" - Jack shouted and along with the girls he ran after him.

When they reached the place, it was horrible some of the houses were gone and half of Shin's house had collapsed. Under some rubble his mother was struggling to get out.

"MOM! Wait we'll help you get out!"

"Don't worry when the firefighters come they'll get me out, so don't come here. Something might fall on you." - she told them.

Several meters away there was a crater with a huge rock inside it. It was still steaming. Then, suddenly, a loud **CRACK** noise came from it. The children and the woman looked at it. Pieces of it started to fall and then from under the crust of rocks a monster came out.

ROARR

"What is that thing?!" - Viki shouted.

"How can we possibly know?" - Jack replied angryly.

"WAAH!" - they heard and saw a man shouting a few meters to the left of the monster.

It turned towards him and with it's huge pincer, it stabbed the man. Everyone was horrifyed by that.

"Now's your chance! Run away to a safe place!" - Shin's mother told them.

"No! I won't leave you, mom!"

"You have to."

She took her necklace off and threw it to her son. He caugt it.

"Take it as a memory of me and run! I'm going to die anyway, so at least you have to survive."

"No, I don't want to loose you."

"You have to protect your friends. Go to the shelter as fast as you can! Don't take any detaours! You have to survive!GO!"

"sniff' OK. I love you and I won't forget you, mom." - he said and then ran with his friends.

The monster had already eaten the man and turned towards their direction.

"I love you, too, son."

She then looked at the monster and shouted with all her might.

"HEY! You damn monster! Come and get me!"

The monster grabbed her with it's pincer and threw her in its maw.

 _I hope you survive without me Shin. I'm sorry that I couldn't be with you longer._

Then it's jaws closed and completely crushed the woman. The children managed to get to the shelter and were evacuated later by the army. This was the beggining of the new war of the sentury. The war of humanity against those monsters began at 7.03.2054. Will humanity survive or will it perish before this new threat from outher space? Wait and you'll see in the next chapters.


	2. Chapter 2

Five years ago humanity met a new enemy. After the whole world was showered by asteroids they appeared, those monsters from space, the ARD. At that time everyone thought that this was the end of the human race. In one year many people died and the population dropped to 1/3 of what it used to be. People tried to fight back with mistels, tanks and other heavy weaponry but it was futile. None of that worked no them. As people were ready to loose all hope and just accept their death a ray of hope appeared. In this one year scientists from the WPO had created a weapon that can defeat those monsters, they called it ONE. It's first appearance was at the battle near Okinawa. Just four beople with ONEs defeated all the ARDs a whole army couldn't. At that time those people were vewed as heroes. Now, year 2059 humanity has stabilized. The WPO is forming an army to fight the menace. Because only sertain people can use the ONE, a special test is made once a year. Those who want to fight the ARD are all allowed to join, the only requirement is to be able to pass the test. Those who have passed it are sent to one of the many mobile bases around the world. There they recieve training and become soldiers. That is the story.

"I can't believe it! I'm actually here. Today is the day I finally start my training as a ONE user."

"Hey! Quit talking to yourself or you'll be late, Shin."

"OK. I'm coming Mary!"

 _That's rigth. I'll finally be able to fight the ARDs back and I'll exterminate all of them! Watch me while I do it, mom._

Shin and Mary enter the plane and take their seats. In a few moments they are already in the air.

"So, in which base are we going?" - shin asks Mary.

"Haven't you read the instructions? It's base Romen, in the west Pacific ocean." - she told him with a scolding tone.

"I read it. Well... not the whole because I got too excited when I got accepted."

"Excited? You have become strange, you know it."

"Strange? Me?"

"Yes, we're going to have military training and after that we're going to fight alien monsters. You should be a nervous, not excted!"

"What can I do? That's just how I am. What's happening? Why are we landing?"

"It seems like there are some other peole that are going with us from this town." - she answers him.

From the airport at Velvet two pasengers get on the plane. A girl with a long blonde hair and a boy with a thug like appearance. The girl goes to the two and asks "Excuse me, is this seat free?"

"Yes, it isn't reserved for anyone." - Mary answers.

The girl then sat down.

"You look pretty young. How old are you?" -Shin asks her.

"I'm 17."

"SEVENTEEN?! You look no more than 15." - he is shocked.

"Peole always think I'm younger so I'm used to it."

"Sorry for his overreacting. My name is Mary, you are?"

"I'm Violet, nice to meet you."

"And I'm Shin, nice to meet you."

After that they talked during the whole time, untill they reached Romen.

"Ah, which class are you two?" - Violet asks them.

"I'm in class A-1."

"You're in the A class Mary?! I wouldn't have expected it."

"Well, what can I say? I'm just good at almost every kind of test."

"I'm in class B-1. I hope we see each other often. And you Shin" - Violet asks him.

"Well..."

"Come on Shin! She'll know it either way." - Mary scolded him.

"I'm in class C-1." - he said quietly.

"In class C?!" - Violet said with a suprided look on her face.

"Yeah, for someone who said that he'd be No 1 in the world is a bit strange to be in C class, isn't it?" - Mary said to tease him.

 **Please every new student to head to the school's front yard.** \- an announcement came from the loudspeakers near them.

"We better head there now or we'll be late." - Mary said.

"But I have to say it, this place is amazing. It's like a floating city."

"Although it's a ship to have all the needed space for training and for dispatching people to counterattack if there are ARDs attacking, it has to be big and have a lot of personel. That's why there's a residential area for the peole that work here and their families, if they bring them." - Violet answers him.

"Oh, is that so? You sure know a lot."

She blushes and looks away from him. After a bit more they reach the school's yard.

"Wow, it really is a school, a normal one." - Shin states.

"Of course it is." - Mary tells him.

Then at the stage placed in front of the people a tall girl with long, brown, brided hair goes to the microphone and starts to talk.

"Hello, new and old students of Roman academy. I'm the school president, Alisa Thornwell. From now on, you, the new students are going to start your training here. You'll be given a key to your room at the dorms after the introduction of your class. First years are on the first floor, so there shouldn't be a problem for you to find your room. You'll be coming here to train every day except the weekends and some holidays but let me warn you, I don't like people that don't follow the order. You have to come on time every day, you're excused only when you're sick. If someone doesn't follow the order I'll have that person expelled immediately. That's all." - she stated and left.

After that everyone got to their class and recieved his key to their room at the dorms.

"I wonder who will be my roommate?" - Shin asked hiself.

When he entered the room to his surprise there wasn't anyone. Even after he returned from dinner, no one came.

 _I guess that I'll have this room for myself then. Hehe._

Then he went to sleep, without knowing that his roommate is going to come in a few more days and with that things are going to become ineresting.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day Shin started his first class at the academy.

"Good morning!" - he greeted everyone.

"Morning!" - a girl with short red hair and glasses greeted him.

Some of the other students from his class just glanced at him and the others didn't even notice him. The class looked a bit gloomy.

"Why is it that they aren't motivated at all?" - he asked.

"Because we're the C class - the lowest." - a boy answered from behind him.

When he turned around he saw that it was the same thug looking boy from the plane.

"You're in the same class?!" - Shin asked with a surprise.

"Do we know each other?"

"No, I saw you get in the plane the other day. You just made an impression, so I remembered your face." - Shin explained.

"I see. My name is Blake. I'm No 2 in class C."

"I'm Shin, No 20 in the class. Nice to meet you."

"You're No 20?! You're at the bottom, man!" - Blake said loudly.

"Cut it out, please. We are classmates. There is no need to make fun of the others." - the red haired girl with glasses said.

"OK. I'll stop." - Blake told her.

"I am Petia. Nice to meet you Shin." - the girl said and extended her hand.

"It's a plesure. Where are you from?"

"I'm from Europe, the new country Birmen to be exact."

"I'm from the USA." - Shin told her.

 **Ding Dong**

"Oh, the bell. We shoul go to our seats." - she said and hurried to hers.

Shin also took his place. The teacher came shortly after. First class was about the different classes of the ARDs. They are divided into 10 classes. The smaller the number, the stronger the ARD is.

"Now, can somebody from this class explain the characteristics that differ the kinds of ARDs?" - the teacher asked.

No one except Petia lifted their hand.

"Then please you explain." - the teacher said and pointed at her.

She stood up and started.

"From all the different classes of ARD there are 3 main types. The flying, the walking and the floating. There are also ARDs that have combined characteristics but they are over the 4th class so they aren't seen that often." - she looked at he teacher.

"Excelent. Continue."

"Wow. She sure knows a lot." - Shin says with amazement.

"Of course she knows. She had the perfect score at the writing exam." - Blake answers him.

"Then why is she in the C class?" - Shin asks.

"Because her skills with the ONE aren't that good. That's why she's No 4 in the class." - Blake explained.

"You two! Stop whispering!" - the teacher scolded them.

They stopped and she continued.

"There are also 3 levels inside the scale. Every ARD from class 10 to 7 is 'ordinary', in other words they don't posess any special traits. Those form class 6 to 4 are 'special', they are faster, a little more agile and stronger. Lastly those from class 3 to 1 are 'humanoids', exactly how the name suggests they have a human-like shaped body. Ther have been several class 3 and 2, they weren't that many so humanity managed to defeat them, with some casualities. Lastly class 1 ARDs there was only one class 1 ARD that ever appeared. It appeared the day of the 'Starfall' it is said that it was thanks to the sacrifice of five ONE users that it was defeated." - she finished ans sat down.

"That was excelent! You have the potential to become a great scientist." - the teacher praised her.

After the end of the first period they headed towards the arena to stard theid practical training.

"I's so excited! I'll finally get my own personal ONE and will be able to fight the ARDs." - Shin said with a smile.

"Don't be so excited. Today we're having co-training with class A-2." - Blake said unmotivadedly.

"Why is that bad?"

"Because we're C class, remember? We're the laughing stock of the other classes." - Blake said with a frown.

"Don't mind him, Shin. If you work hard I'm sure you'll manage." - Petia said.

It was just as Blake said. The second years made fun of them. As everyone of the C class recieved their own ONE and started training the A class began to laugh at them. Some were so affected by it that they got depressed. On the other hand Shin and his two new friends weren't affected that way. Petia didn't mind them, Shin got more determined to show them how good he'll be and Blake wanted to beat them up but the school rules didn't allow fights. Petia's ONE turned in a flying support type 'fairy'. It had a low attack power but it could streinghten the others and assist them. Althoug she had to work a lot to be able to use it porperly.

Blake's ONE was a ground and water walking type 'snake'. It had speed and a lot of power. Ideal for both land, water, close and medium range attacks. He could either fight with the ARDs by using the spear or the gauntlets. On the other hand Shin's ONE was an ordinary, plain flying type 'spearow'. He could swoth the thrusters on anf off to fight in the sky or on the ground. His weapons were two short swords.

"Hahaha. That kid from the C class got the 'spearow'! I knew they were the lowest class but I didn't know there was someone so low among them. He's surely the worst in the school." - a blond boy from the other class said.

"Don't mind him Shin. He's trying to provoke you." - Petia said.

"I know. That's why I can't wait for the tinme when I'll remove that smile from his face.

Their days continued that way for two weeks. Sometimes they had the arena all for themselves and sometimes they had to share it with some of the upper classes. It wasn't allowed for classes from the same year to train together because of the midterm battles. There the student fought each other to determine who's better and those who got better scores recieved a special bonus. That's the reason all the students trained hard to polish their skills and win. After the afternoon training he was attending with his new friends Shin got to his room and fastly fell asleep because of the exhaustion. His roommate was finally coming.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning when Shin entered the classroom he noticed everyone was noisyer.

"What's going on?" - he asked Petia.

"Oh, it's you Shin. I heard that there is a new student comming to our class. The rumor spread fast so everyone is making bets."

"Bets? Why?"

"Because no one knows anything about the new student. They are about what gender the new student will be. So, what do you think? A girl or a boy?" - a black haired boy butted in.

"I don't want to take part in this." - she answered him.

"Che. You Shin? What do you think?"

Shin thought for a bit and said "A boy."

"Ooh, so sure. We'll see soon."

"Leave them alone Yuuto." - Blake said and grabbed the boy's shoulder.

 **Ding Doong~**

Everyone sat down. The teacher entered.

"You might have heard aout it already but we're having a new student starting today. Please come in."

From the door entered two boys. One of them was around 16 and the other was around 13. The older boy was wearing a sleeveless jacled ,a shirt with a strange animal on it, loose jeans and glasses. His hair was short, broun and a bit messy. The younger one wore a woolen shirt, normal pants and sneakers. His hair was a bit long and it was almost entirely balck, except one white part on the left side of his face.

"Teacher didn't you say one student? Why are there two?" - Yuuto stood up.

"Don't rush this much! I'll explain!" - the teacher got angry.

He walked next to the younger boy and put his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"This is your new classmate. Introduce yourself."

"Lance, plesed to meet you." - the boy said quietly.

"And I am the great Kumoto Hagashi! I'm going to work here from today on as a researcher. Hope to work with you without any problems." - the other boy said.

Everyone was wordless.

"WHAT?! You're a researcher?! But you're so young." - one of the girls said.

"Age isn't a limitation for a true genius."

"I thing he's too selfish and proud." - Blake made a remark.

"Now, please sit on that free chair at the back. And you Mr. Kumoto, go to work." - the teacher continued.

"OK! Lance, don't be so nervous and make some friends!" - Hagashi said and left.

The first period passed in questions. Everyone asked Lance about himself. From where is he, what's his connection with that so called 'genius', what was with his hair and etc.

After that the class settled down quickly. It was time for their training session with class A-2.

"Are you excited Lance? You get your own ONE today." - Petia approached him.

"...I guess..." - he answered her.

"I am Petia, nice to meet you."

"Me too."

"And I'm Shin, the unsociable one is Blake. Nice to meet'cha."

Lance smiled and decided to make a handshake with them. When it was Shin's time the A class entered.

"Ooh, is this a new face among the loosers?" - one of the boys asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, it is! I wonder what kind his ONE will be?" - another one continued.

"It's going to be some trash grade ONE again, I'm sure of it!" - a blonde guy finished.

The blondie was Luxen, he was Violet's brother but they were as different as the day and the night.

"I hate this guy. I can't wait for the midterm battles." - Blake murmured.

"What are you saying? You can't fight him even there. You have to be on the first place to be able to fight an upper classman. Do you plan to defeat everyone, even those from class A-1?" - Petia asked.

"No but I'll get to let off some steam by fighting with a person."

"What is 'midterm battles'?" - Lance asked.

"It's an event. To see how much everyone has improved for half year. It's like tournament, it will even be shown on TV. And the winners for each class will fight each other in the final round. Which means that A, B and C class will clash, usually A class wins but it's still epic. After that theres a one day break after the tournament. There is a festival and a concert in the evening." - Petia answered him.

"Ooh."

"Now, activate your ONE. Grab it and try to activate it with your thoughts." - Shin said to Lance.

He did just as he was told. After a while a flash of light covered Lance. When it disappeared everyone saw the form of Lance's ONE. The A class bursted in laugh and almost everyone in C class sighed and facepalmed. His ONE's for was classed even lower than Shin's. The lowest of the lowest 'cat' type. It's verry well known that it's a type that appears rarely because it's for those with the lowest compability wit ONE. It was ordinary ground type with two gloves with sharp blades on each finger.

"Iit's not that bad,right?" - Petia looked at Shin and Blake.

"..." - Blake remained silent and went to train.

"Yeah, it's not that..." - Shin tried to comfort him but was interrupted.

"AWESOME! This is awesome! Like that ninja...what was his name again...? Well doesn't matter!" - Lance said and made a pose.

The sudden change in his bahavior shocked them.

"You don't mind it?" - she asked.

"No. Cause I look like the ninja I saw on TV."

"Oh, so you also like anime and ninjas? My fave anime is Ninja Choritto and yours?" - Shin asked.

"Ninya- paws of fury and justice!" - Lance said and made another pose.

"Eh...?" - was what Shin managed to say to his responce.

The ninja anime Lace was talking was a kids' show with ninja cats that fight an evil tyrant and try to free Nyapon from his tyrany and all evil.

"A very interesting taste you have there."

"Yeah, my favourite character is Nyankichi!"

Shin and Petia were baffled. After that they trained together and helped Lance to get the hang of operating his ONE. He got used to it quickly. The second years, more acurately Luxen's group, wern't happy with the new kid's behavior.

"I don't like him." - one of Luxen's punks said.

"Yeah, he and his looser friends are such a disgrace, well... except the guy with the 'snake'. He isn't as big disgrace but still one." - Luxen said outloud.

"WHAT DI YOU SAY PUNK!" - Blake was furious.

Shin and Petia barely stopped him from attacking.

"Let me go! I'm gonna smash his face!" - Blake shouted.

"No! You'll get in trouble!" - she tried to convince him.

"I don't care!"

"If you do it now then you won't be able to participate in the midterm battles. You might even be expelled." - Shin added.

"OK. I'll hold it in for now." - he finally calmed down.

"Wait. Where is Lance?" - Petia asked.

B the time they calmed Blake, Lance had already went to the area where A class was training. He didn't understood why but he was angry because what Luxen said.

"What do you want?" - Lux asked.

"Fight me." - the boy said calmly.

"You heard that? He wants to fight me."

HAhahahaha. A class students laughed.

"What will you do with your 'cat' type, huh? My ONE is a 'condor' type. You won't be able to even reach me! Are you serious?"

"Yes." - Lance said with a poker face.

"Hmph! OK then! Lulu, appoint a battle 'practice' three weeks from noe after school. Between me and this runt."

A purple haired girl turned suddenly.

"Eh, are you serious?! Won't you forgive him he started today."

"That's why I'm giving him therr weeks to train."

Then the bell rang and they left.

"I'm sorry for his behavior." - Lulu apologized to the four.

"Nno need to. We should be" - Petia started.

"No! He got too far! But there is no helping it. Once he decides something, he'll do it, no matter what."

"You sure know him well." - Blake said.

"We are childhood friends afer all. By the way I'm Lulu Maxwell, from the Student Counchil."

"The Student Counchil?!" - the four said in surprise.

"Yes, I'll try to change his mind, if not I promice I'll give you more than 3 wekks time to train." - she said and left.

Untill the end of the day everyone had heard about the incident. Everyone was joking with Lance, except Shin, Petia and Blake. After the end of school they all went to the dorms. Lance was in Shin's room. Before barting with Blake, who was on the fourth floor, he said something.

"To tell you the truth I liked what you did today." - he smiled before the elevator's doors closed. Shin and Lance also smiled and entered their room.

"This is our room. I hope we get along." - Shin said.

"I hope too."

After sudying Shin went out on a stroll around the floating city. Lane decided to take a bath after he finished, too. When he took his shirt off and went under the shower there were three scars on his body. One a bit higher than his ankle, it was two diagonal lines on both sides of his leg. The second was a huge cut-like scar across his back. The last one was a + shaped scar in the middle of his chest. After the shower he put new clothes and went to see professor Kumoto. What was the story behind his scars? The answer lies in the boy's mysterious past and the events during the first years of the war.


	5. Chapter 5

=== At the lab after Kumoto arrives in the school===

"Machina, how are things going?" - a short girl asks.

"They're going excellent. I just checked MaRIA's data. No problems found." - a dark broun haired woman in maid clothes answers.

"That's good...What are we going to do today?..."

At that moment the door is flung open and Kumoto entered. Both of them were staring at him.

"Hello everyone!" - he said with a smile.

"Who the heck are you?!" - the short girl asked.

"You don't know me? I'm the great genius Kumoto Hagashi, I'm going to be working with you from today on."

"What? I have never herd of such thing!" - she told him.

"Ah! Now that you've mentioned it, when you were playing online games a message came. It said that a new professor is going to start a work here." - the woman exclaimed.

"Why didn't you tell me?!"

"I told you. You said 'Yeah,yeah I got it. Leve me now I have to kill the boss.'. " - she imitated the short girl's voice when she said her lines.

"Oh, then it must be true. By the way I'm Shina Miki. A professor like you. Nice to meet you." - the short girl said and extended her hand.

The boy was staring at the broun haired woman.

"Wwhat is it?" - she asked shyly.

"How did you do that?"

"Huh?"

"Hou did you imitate the shorty's voice?"

Miki was angry at him, so she ordered:

"Machina, hit him on the head!"

The woman did what she was told to and the boy fell to the ground in pain.

"This is for ignoring me and calling me short! I'll answer your question because you're so dumb that you don't get it. Machina is an android I made to be my assistant."

"I'm sorry. I was just surprized because she looked human and didn't pay attention to you Mrs. Shina." - he said as he was getting up and rupping his head.

"So you've payed attention."

"Yes, but I'm surprized to see someone younger than me. You must be a genius, too."

"No, I'm not. I may look like this but in fact I'm 25 this year." - she said.

"Are you serious?!"

"Yes, I am. Now let's return to work."

The girls began doing their monthly checkup of the ship's system and Kumoto looked trough the data of the students, ONEs and defeated ARDs.

=== Now in the lab ===

"Aaah... Finally over." - he said.

"You finished verry quickly Mr. Kumoto." - Machina praised him.

"Don't call me Mr., Kumoto is just fine."

"OK. Would you like something to drink?"

"Yes, a glass of cola with 3 ice cubes."

"I'll go get it right away, and you Miki?"

"Water."

She left the lab to take the things.

"You really were fast. To check all that data for six hours."

"Of course I was. After all having two girls around me lifts my spirit up!"

"Just wait untill Machina comes back..." - she glared at him.

"I was just kidding!"

Then the door opened and Lance entered the room.

"Oh, Lance. You came." - he greeted the boy.

"Yes. I'm Lance. Nice to meet you miss." - he greeted Miki.

"Nice to meet you too."

"So, do you have something to ask?" - he asked Lance.

"Yes, I have two things. I heard we're going to stop near some city, is that true?"

"Yes, but it won't be soon." - he said and showed the ship's course on the computer screen.

There was a map with every stop the ship would make, with all the places it'll go.

"I got it. Also, what would you like for dinner?" - Lance finished.

"Nothing. Tonight I'll be having dinner with the school's president. Also you're also a student now, so you won't be cooking for me. There are restaurants, so I won't starve." - he said calmly.

 **Beep.** \- Miki's computer recieved a message.

"OK. Have a nice day!" - Lance left.

"Who is he?" - she asked as she was opening the message.

"He was taking care of the house and me while I was still recovering from the eye surgery. I made a big mistake by forgetting to hire a maid or butler beforehand. Thank God he appeared."

"Hehe. It seems he got himself in trouble." - she said.

"What do you mean?"

"In the message it's said that in three weeks there'll be a match btween him and Luxen. The kid's in big trouble."

"What, a fight?! I told him to take it easy!"

"He didn't listen to you, aparently. A fight with an A class, second year. But he looked rather calm about it."

"I guess he has an amazing type of ONE. That must be the reason."

"No, in fact your friend has a 'cat' type and Luxen has a 'condor' type." - she told him.

"That really is bad but I have faith in his choice."

It beacme night in a few hours. Kumoto and Miki were having dinner with Alisa Thornwell, the members of the Student Council and some of the big shots on this ship. They were chatting about different stuff when they heard the alarm.

 **Beeeep!Beep! Attention to everyone on the ship! ARDs have been detected. The battle personel is to get ready emediately!**

"Excuse us but we have to go." - Alisa said.

She and the Student Counchil members left in a hurry.

"Is it safe to stay here?" - Kumoto asked.

"It is. There's a defence barrier aroud the ship." -Miki informed him.

=== At the command center ===

"What's the situation?" - Alisa asked.

"Three ARDs detected. Currentlu they're still falling towards the ground. Here are the coordinates where they'll land. Wh have two hours." - a boy with short black hair said and hande her a tablet.

"OK. We're departing emediately."

They got ready as fast as they could, put their battle suits on and departed in one of the boats.

 _I'll destroy every one of those monsters before they can can get close to a city!_ \- Alisa thought with a froun.

=== On the ship's deck before the alarm started ===

 _I wonder how can Lance challenge Luxen on a battle. He should know the difference in power between them. I hope he'll be fine. Maybe I should bring him something sweet..._ \- Shin thought.

Then he saw a blue flash of light in the sky. It was so fast that no one else seemed to had noticed it. Befroe he could make something of it, it was gone.

 _It must have been my imagination or someone on the ship is using fireworks._

Then the alarm started.


	6. Chapter 6

The dispatched team left with one of the high speed boats, ready to fight the ARDs.

"How's the situation?" - Alisa asked.

"We'll arrive on the crashing spot in one hour. Just a little after they've emerged from the 'capsules'. They won't be far away." - answered Melinda, one of the members of the student counchil.

She was a sort girl with straight, blonde hair and glasses. She was a bit slow in action but was good with strategies.

"OK. 'Cause even if one of those things gets near a populated place, it'll be a blood bath." - Kurama said, he is also a part of the counchil.

He is a boy with black hair and black eyes, what you would say 'normal' , but in fact he has a strong sense of justice and is HUGE fan of the idol Sumi Norfolk.

On the boat were four people dispatched to confront the ARD. The fourth membe was the one driving the boat. He was a youn man in his 20s with broun, messy hair, latino-colored skin and sandals. Although his look he was an excelent fighter, on par with a general. His name was Chuo Mei. On the sky they could see the falling ARDs. They left red lines in the night sky. After a bit they crashed in a forest near the coast.

"Get ready for battle!" - Alisa commanded.

"ROGER!" - the two answered.

"Hai,hai..." - the man driving the boat said with no motivation.

They stopped the boat and got off.

"Melinda, scan the area. Let's see with what type and level ARDs we have a deal with." - she continued with her orders.

Melinda took out a device from the bag she had. It was a small phone-like device with big screen and a few buttons. She pressed onne of them and the device started scaning the area.

 **Didiing!** \- it made a sound.

"It's ready. Let's see the details..." she looked at he screen with a surprised look "EH?!"

"What's wrong?" - Kurama asked her.

"T...there seems to be something jamming the signal. I can't find their location and types, neither the levels. What do we do now?"

"Ooh. It seems things are going to be interesting." - Chuo smirked.

"Don't panic! Let's think about it. They landed on the ground, so there isn't a floating type. There isn't one flying, so there isn't a flying one. There might be a mixed type, so we'll prepare for it. There is at least one over level 7, an ARD with a stealth ability is of level 6, so be carefull! Let's go!" - Alisa said and headed to the forest with the others.

In the forest was quiet, too quiet. You could hear the chirping of the insects. This silence made everyone alerted because the enemy might be hiding somewhere with a stealth skill. Only high level ARDs had skills, for you to defeat them is not an easy task. After walking for a bit they reached the place of the crash.

"The trees on the west have been broken. That's the way they have headed." (Melinda)

"Let's hurry! This silence is creeping me out!" (Kurama)

They walked again. Everybody had activated their ONE and was ready to attack. Then Alisa, that was leading, tripped and fell.

"Are you OK?!" (Melinda)

"Yes, I just fell. That's...all..." - she said while lifting her head to look what was in front of her.

Everyone looked shocked at the scene in front of them. Alisa had tripped in a long, cut-like line on the ground. On the grassland before them were the traces of a fierce battle. Burnt marks, jiant claw-like deep cuts on the ground and strange lumps. As they were watching Chuo turned aroun and pointed his katana towards the trees on their right.

"What's it?" (Melinda)

"I thougt I saw some sort of bluish ligh, but it was probably my imag..." - he couldn't finish his words.

Flickering an ARD appeared. It had stealth skill, that was why they didn't saw it but there was something strange about it, it was flickering. It appeared and disappeared continuously, while stumbling towards them. It made one final roar and fell dead wit a loud crash on the ground. When they got closer and looked at it they saw it was a level 4. It looked like a mixture of chameleon, crab and some other metalic and orcanic parts. It was 5 metres tall and it was covered in cuts, one of it's arms was missing, it's leg was twisted around in a strange way, deep claw marks could be seen on it's front and back and lastly, it's core had been destroyed.

"Ddon't tell me..." - Alisa said and ran towards the grassland.

Those things she though were lumps of dirt turned out to be the parts of the other two ARDs. They were scattered on the whole field and even in the forest or hanging on some trees.

"What the heck happened here?!" (Kurama)

"They have been defeated before we got off the boat. There is no way we couldn't have heard a battle this destructive." - Alisa said with a grim face.

She knew the one, who defeated the ARDs had a monstrous strenght. The one they saw probably had escaped being thorn apart to shreds thanks to it's stealth. Everyone knew that this kind of ARD was the hardest one to find, even with a radar.

"Who could have done it? Poachers maybe. Recently another, unknown group of ONE users has been defeating ARDs and taking their cores." (Melinda)

"I don't think so." Chuo started "I've seen the work of the poachers. This is too messy for them, they won't leave so many traces. Not to mention that the cores are all here. They should have taken them away."

"You're right. They weren't the ones that defeated the ARDs. The question is..Who did it?" (Kurama)

"We'll think about it later. Kurama, call the clean up team. We have to collect the parts scattered around. We don't want anyone to die because of the toxic body fluids. Melinda, make pictures and scan the area. I and Chuo will guard!" (Alisa)

They did as she said.

=== On the board of the ship ===

 _I'm late! I got caried away and it's almost past 22:00 , I have to hurry or I'm in deep trouble!_ \- Shin thought while running towards the dorms.

He got in just in the last second before the students shouldn't be outside without a permission. He entered his room and saw Lance sleeping on the other bed. He was moving around a lot in his sleep and was moaning or murmuring something from time to time.

 _He must be verry tired, so I won't try to wake him up. I'll give him the sweets when he wakes up._

He then left the packet in the fridge and went to bed. Compared to the orphanage, where more than ten snoring and kicking kids slept along with him, the moaning Lance didn't bother Shin and he quickly fell to sleep.

=== The next day ===

"Good morning!" (Shin and Lance)

"Morning. Have you slept well?" (Petia)

"Yes, the bed was like a cloud." (Lance)

"It's not that soft. There are even softer beds, after all I've seen them." (Blake)

"REALLY?! I can't believe it!" (Lance)

"But it's true. This is ordinary." (Blake)

"Now I'm wondering at what kind of place has he lived to think that the bed is like a cloud." - Shin said.

"So, when will you start training? If you want to, I'll make you a training course after school." - Petia offered.

"If it's OK, I want you to try and attack me in today's class at the arena. We won't share it with other class, so there should be space for a mock fight." (Lance)

"OK, no problem!" (Shin)

"Great! I'll have a chance to let off some steam." (Blake)

"What are you saying?! You can't do it! He's our friend!" (Petia)

"You don't get it, do you?" (Shin)

"I was joking. You take thing too seriously." (Blake)

Lance shook his head for Yes. Then Petia realised and got furstrated.

"I don't care about you anymore!"

Then classes started.


	7. Chapter 7

In the arena, while the others of the C class were training, separated from them were Shin, Petia, Blake and Lance. They were getting ready for the mock fight. Petia was going to watch because her ONE was a support type.

"So, what should we do now?" (Blake)

"I think Shin should spar with Lance first. Their types are closer in power." (Petia)

"OK then! Let's start!" (Shin)

They both activated their ONEs. Shin with his 'spearow' type and Lance with his 'cat' type. They took battle stance. Shin leaned slightly forward, while holding his sword with both kands and pointed it towards Lance. He, on the other hand, didn't do much. Lance just put his left leg forward.

"Get ready! Three, two, one...FIGHT!" (Petia)

Shin dashed forward and swung his sword at Lance. The boy repelled the attack by hitting with the metal claws. The sword was pushed to the right and missed.

"Shin. I want you to fight seriously! I want to see how strong an all out attack might be!" (Lance)

"Is that why you asked us to fight?" (Blake)

"This and to get used to being attacked." (Lance)

By hearing that Shin and Blake smiled.

"Get ready! I'm comming seriously!" (Shin)

Shin took a new stance. Ready to rush towards his oponent he collected as much power as he could in the sword. He dashed towards Lance and released the power. His speed increased and the sword glowed in red and looked like it's made of pure energy. Lance was surprised but quickly, before he was hit, he crossed his hands in front of him to defend himself from the blow. The blade hit him.

 **BOOOOM!**

A loud noice echoed trough the arena. Lance was flung towards the wall and a thick cloud of dust was coveting the place he landed, no one could see what happened to him.

"What have you done?" (Petia)

"I just attacked him at full force. I didn't think he would take the attack head on." (Shin)

"Even so, you shouldn't have done it!" (Petia)

"Stop scolding him! Lance, himself said that he wants to be attacked at full force, so Shin doesn't have fault." (Blake)

 **Piiiip! [** All current energy used. Focefully deactivating.]

Shin's body flashed and his ONE deactivated.

"We should go and help Lance." (Petia)

The cloud of dust had almost disappeared and they could see trough it. There were two deep lines on the ground, left from Lance's lags when he was pushed, and a few metres from the wall he stood without a scratch. He was calmly removing the dust from his clothes. Everyone was shocked.

"Lance! You're unharmed!?" (Petia)

"Yeah, why? " (Lance)

"Seriously, man! You were hit at full force! Even Shin'd ONE deactivated because it had used too much energy at once but you're standin' here like nothing happened." (Blake)

"The hit was quite strong but it lacked technique. But neverthless," he lifted his thumb up "Good job Shin!"

"I can't believe you are fine. Are you sure you aren't hurt anywhere?" (Petia)

"Yes, I am sure. Now, it's Blake's turn, right?" (Lance)

Blake activated his 'snake' type and readied his spear.

"FIGHT!" (Shin)

Blake charged in but Lance ducked and rolled to the left but Blake didn't leave him chance to escape that easyly. He turned his pear and hit Lance with the handle, sending him a few metres away. Lance was getting up but Blake charged his spear with energy and launched a super charged attack at the boy.

"Dodge it!" (Petia)

Lance didn't listen. He took the attack the same way he did with Shin. This time, however, the attack was much stronger and sent fim flying. With a loud crash he hit the wall and again a cloud of dust surrounded him.

"Oh, no!" (Petia)

She and the other two boys rushed to help him. When they saw him lying on the ground and smiling, they were shocked. The wall he crashed into had a huge crack in it but he didn't had a scratch. Lance got up wit his hair messed up. He turned towards Blake.

"Wow! That was SUPER powerful! You have to name this attack somehow. Can I name it?" - his eyes were glittering.

"..." - no one said a thing because of the shock.

"I take this for Yes. Let's see... it's a snake type so...It shall be Naga Charge! And Shin's shall be Energy Wing!"

"What's wrong with your head?! We thought you were hurt, you hit the wall with such force that it cracked! And you're acting like nothing happened, you even thought of attack names!" (Blake)

"Yeah. You should be more woried about yourself! But to say it, I like the name." (Shin)

"We should take you to the infirmary!" (Petia)

"There is no need. I'm fine." (Lance)

His body flashed and his ONE deactivated.

"I'm going to go and take a shower. Thanks for sparing with me." (Lance)

He went out and headed to the dorms.

"I can't believe him. Is he some sort of a monster?" (Blake)

"What are you talking about? He's just thinking diferently. That's all. You're living in the same room, right Shin?" (Petia)

"Yes."

"Can you watch over him. He might actually be hurt."

"OK. I will."

After clases ended Shin got in his room. Lance was there, watching TV. He was watching some anime, so Shin left him and started doing the project thay gave him. In class they pulled their project themes from a box. The theme he got was 'Make a presentation about the flying type level 7 ARD 'fireflyer' and draw it's body in detail.' it was very hard. He wrote the text but the drawing was another thing.

'How the heck am I going to draw it in detail? I found a picture but I have to draw how it looks inside. There are no pictures or charts how it looks on the inside.'

Lance got behind him.

"What are you so nervous about?"

"The last part of the project is too hard! I can't do it."

"Why? It's pretty easy." (Lance)

"Say what?"

"Let me show you."

Lance took a penchil and a sheet of paper and started drawing. He was verry fast and was done in five minutes. On the sheet was the most acurate drawing Shin has seen. Everything was drawn and marked. The wings, the location of the core, the flame throwinf and bomb releasing glands, everything.

"Wow! You are amazing! I never knew about some of those things." (Shin)

" I learned some of it from Mr. Kumoto. It's not that much." (Lance)

"Do you have something to do today?" (Shin)

"No."

"Do you want to come with me? I'm going to meet Petia and Blake at the centre. Then we'll stroll around the city."

"Sure! I haven't looked around all that much. Let's go!" (Lance)

In half an hour they headed towards the meeting spot.


	8. Chapter 8

"Oh! Shin, you brought Lance too?" (Petia)

"Yeah, he still hasn't looked around the city. It's not a problem, right?" (Shin)

"Nno, it's not. The more the merryer." (Petia)

"Whatever. Let's go." (Blake)

"Where are we going?" (Lance)

"To a verry good cafeteria. It's cheap and serves many things. The atmosphere is also nice." (Petia)

When they reached, they sat on a table in front of it and ordered.

"So, Lance, do you have a training strategy yet? How will you be training for the fight?" (Petia)

"I won't be training anymore for it." - he blurted.

Blake spat his juice out.

"Cough! You won't train?! Don't tell me you're going to hit him untill he feels something. That's ridiculous! You at least have a plan, right?"

"Yes, I have a plan." - Lance ate some cake.

"That isn't enough! Luxen's ONE is a 'condor' , in other words a flying type. Even if you can reach him you'll be blasted and hurt because of the diference in power." (Petia)

"Wait for a moment there! When we practiced, didn't he take our all out attacks head on? He didn't even had a scratch." (Shin)

"Ah! You are right. That means your defence is verry strong, Lance, but you can't take Luxen's attack head on! He is much stronger than Shin and Blake." (Petia)

"OK. I will try to evade all of his attacks." (Lance)

"So...What's your plan?" (Blake)

"It's secret. You'll see when we fight." (Lance)

"That reminds me...Why did you challenge him?" (Shin)

"Because I got annoyed. When he started telling bad things about you, I got verry annoyed and did it on a whim. But don't worry, I'll teach him a lesson. Like Nyankichi once said: 'I'll make him reflect on the evil he has done and show him the right way! In order to live happyly, one must be good to everyone.' , so I'll try do something good for everyone." (Lance)

The other three facepalmed and looked at each other. The day passed peacefully and they had fun, strolling around before it got dark. After that Lance really didn't train at all. He went to see Kumoto Hagashi once in his lab.

== Week and a half before the battle between Luxen and Lance ==

Somewhere in south-east Europe. On one of the many islands near Greese.

"Team Alpha, going in! Team Beta?" - a woman said.

[Team Beta is ready. We're protecting the perimetre, it's safe to continue.] - a man answered her trough the headphone.

A group of five slowly got closer to the rocky wall. A young boy stepped forward when the woman gave him the signal. He went to the wall and started tapping it with a pebble.

 **Clank!**

He hit something metal. He searched aroud with his hands for a while, he stopped and pushed something. Suddenly, accompanied with the sound of heavy rusted doors opening, part of the wall split open and revealed a secret passage.

"Everyone! Turn your flashlights on and stay together! There might be some traps, so be carefull." - the woman ordered.

They did just as she said. Inside it was dark, there were light switches but no electrycity. The group went down a long metal staircase. Because of the humidity and the long time no one has been there, the sairs were rusted and creaked as the people stepped on them.

"WAAH!"

One of the stairs fell and a man almost fell with it. They quickly pulled him up and continued with even more caution. When they reached the bottom, in front of them were many computers, machines and gigantic glass containers, big enough to fit two fully groun men. The woman then talked.

"So this is the great professor Michail Antonov's secret lab?"

She walked next to one of the decks and picked up a book. It was the only book left in the room.

"Get all the data chips from the computers and search for other memory devices!"

"Yes comander!" - everyone saluted.

As she was flipping through the book, she realised it was a research gournal and a diary.

'It's such a shame. Because of the moisture most of the information in here is lost. It's such a shame Prof. Antonov killed himself because of paranoia, he could have helped us. If he didn't become a heteric, he could have been one of the best in the world.'

She sighed at this thought and flipped the next pege. What she saw surprised her. The outer part was unreadable but it said this:

*I...when was searchin trough some seret date in...discovered something shocking, something kept in the shadows from everyone by...It is about the beginning of the war. On 30.04 when a fleet of ships and many jetpanes left... harbor in USA to assist the Japanese army, it was said that an armada on ARDs was responsible for their defeat, but...had hid the truth. It wasn't actually an army. It was only one single ARD. This fact was so shocking that...hid it. The thing responsible for the defeat was an ARD they called level 0. No one survived to tell about it but...there was nothing showing on the radar. If it was an armada, they should have noticed it and sent an SOS. Moreover, they...So, I'm now the only one that tries to do something before that level 0 ARD appears. I'm working on...to create a super soldier to fight...together with some other researchers and Prof...'ve been testing some new methods and... create a 'Varion' - a genetically modyfied... before the next 'S...fall' comes.*

"We're ready boss!" - one of the men said.

"Oh my God..." - she had a death pale face.

"What's wrong?"

"Ah! Nothing. I'll be personally taking this book to a researcher in Romen. So, don't say anything about it in the report!"

"Why there? That's like the other end of the world! Aren't the researchers in Besali enough?" - the man asked.

"If someone could comprehend the written here fast enough, it would be the head researcher in Romen."

She but the book in a bag and commanded everyone to move out.

=== The day of the battle ===

"I'm so excited! Usually there isn't a mock fight this early after the beginning of the school year."

"Yeah. I heard a first year is fighting a second year, moreover there are going to be some important people watching the match."

"Really?!"

"Don't get your hopes up! The battle will end in seconds."

"What do you mean?"

"I have an inner info. It's a first year class C with a 'cat' type against the "Iron condor" , Luxen from A class."

"Oh, poor first year. He'll get beaten up."

All kinds of conversations could be heard from the arena's seats. On a special place with lixorious seats and a bar with food and drinks, the VIP room, sat the Student counchil members, Kumoto and one man in general-like clothes waited for the match to start. The lights went out and a single light shone at the centre of the arena. A girl with a microphone started talking.

"Are you ready for a fight?!"

"YEAH!" - the croud answered.

"OK! Then get ready for something never seen before! A fight between a students from class C-1 and A-2! Get ready for action! Firs to come out is the one and only "Iron condor" - Luxen!"

As the croud cheered he came out with another light shining at him (like a boxing match).

"He will surely smash that C class kid!" - a boy said.

"Oh, really? If you are so sure why don't we make a bet?" - a black haired girl sitting to his left asked him.

"We have a bet!" - he answered.

"Next is Lance from class C-1. Good luck kid!"

All the lights lit up after Lance went to the middle of the arena.

"Now! Get ready! One, two, two, three...GO!"

The fight started.


	9. Chapter 9

With the beggining of the fight, Lance and Luxen activated their ONEs. Luxen quickly rose up in the sky and made his gun appear. Lance leaned forward a bit and looked at the other boy.

"Hah! You can't reach me now, can you? I'll make you regret that you challenged me!" (Luxen)

He started shooting with his gun at Lance. Lance expected this and started dodging his attacks.

' _What the heck? Although he's running, he's super fast. I can't hit him_.' (Luxen thought with a bit of sweat)

Meanwhile at the VIP room the general guy laughed.

"That C class kid is really good! He gives that A-2 calss guy a hard time. If he recieves the proper training he could become an elite soldier although he has a 'cat' type ONE. If I remember correctly, he started his lessons around a month ago, am I right?"

"Of course general Flint. He started around a month ago and he can rival a secon year from the A class. My assistant sure is amazing!" - Kumoto Hagashi said and took a big sip of Cola.

"He's your assistant?" (Alisa)

"Glup. I call him that but he's more like a care taker." (Kumoto)

"A child this young working? That doesn't sound right." (Melinda)

"I know but it's not like the old times before the war. There are many homeless people, beggars, some children don't even get the chance to be in an orphanage. He has his reason for this so I don't push him. Right now he is much more happy than before."

On the arena Lance suddenly stopped and slid on the ground, his legs making a long dust circle around Luxen.

"Oooooh!" - the croud exclaimed.

Lance disappeared in the cloud. Luxen tried to find him, although he knew he was in the air and Lance on the ground, he felt nervous. He noticed something moving at his left and shot there, with the cloud of dust clearing, Lance's cover was ending. At a spot behind Luxen he appeared and he was holding something in his hands. It was stones! He threw a few at Luxen's back. Unprepared, Luxen was hit on the head. While he was in pain, Lance threw the rest at him.

"HahahahA! I haven't seen something so interesting!" (Flint)

"ROCKS! He's throwing rocks! Is he serious?!" (Kurama)

"Well...he's been an oddball from the beggining." (Kumoto)

"It might look absurd but it's effective. As you know, if someone isn't prepared for something, his enemies will use it. A surprise attack works for most cases." (Alisa)

Luxen lost his balance and fell down with a loud crash. Lance took the chance while Luxen was down and dashed towards him. In seconds he reached Luxen and kicked him, causing him to roll a few times on the ground.

"Seize the moment! While his opponent is distracted he attacked him again. That kid has excellent instincts!" - the general laughed.

Luxen got to his knees and looked at Lance.

 _'How am I loosing?! This isn't possible! If only he stood still for a moment or get distracted, I'll finish him with a particle blast from my gun.'_

Lance was about to run towards Luxen, he made one step forward and suddenly stood still. The boy looked towars the seats on the south-east side of the arena, not paying attention to the battle.

'Heh. I got him!'

Luxen charged his gun and shot the particle blast towards Lance.

"Oh, NO! This kind of attack is only to be used on ARDs, not on people!" (Melinda)

"Too bad, he shouldn't have been distracted so easyly." (Kurama)

 **BOOOOM!**

Lance noticed and turned his head around but it was too late. The blast hit him and a powerfull explosion occured. Just when everyone thought about calling the medics and Luxen smirked for his victory, stood up and lowered his gun, everyone's eyes widened. Just like a ghost, Lance appeared and attacked Luxen but he flew up. Lance crouched and readied himself for a jump.

' _What the...HOW is he fine?! That should have sent him to the hospital! What is he doing now?' (Luxen)_

 **Bzzzzzzzt.**

Sparks formed around Lance's body.

' _Don't tell me, is this actually..._ ' (Flint)

Lance jumped up with the speed of bullet. The claws on his arms shone up as sparks concentrated around them. Then he slashed down at Luxen.

' _an Overdrive." (Flint)_

Luxen was hit and he fell down, smashing in the groud with incredible force. The ground under him was cracked.

[ **Due to severe damage and energy loss a forcefull shutdown has been made. Luxen's unable to continue. The winner is Lance!]**

This was announced by the loudspeakers. Everyone cheerd.

"Truly a miraculous victory. Who would have thought that he can use the Overdrive." (Flint)

"It truly is. Why is he in the C class?" (Alisa)

"Well...his resulds on the test were the worst so he was put in the C class." - Melinda checked it.

"I see. Then after the midterm battle, when it's possible, invite him to join the A class." (Alisa)

"Got it."

On the arena Lance looked at the defeated Luxen. He smiled, he was the winner. He was breathing heavyly but was still standing. Suddenly his ONE flashed and strong electrycity hit him.

"Guh!"

"Lance!" (Petia, Shin, Blake)

His ONE deactivated and the electrycity disappeared. He fell on the ground. His friends were the first to reach him. Blake kneeled down and lifted his head. He touched his forehead and pulled his hand quickly.

"Petia, call the medics and bring me a napkin and a botle of cold water! Shin, hep me and lift his legs up!" (Blake)

They did as he said. He lifted the boy's upper body and with the help of Shin, he brought him to the wall. They put him in a sitting posture. Shin could only watch from the side as Blake was giving him first aid. Petia returned with the water and the napkin. He opened the bottle and poured half of it on Lance's head. The boy opened his eyes and looked up.

"Lane, are you OK?" (Petia)

"Nothing hurts, right?" (Shin)

"Why are you asking such things? He was hit by electrycity a moment ago." (Blake)

Lance's eyesight was blurred, he couldn't hear well too.

' _What are they talking about? It's bad...the...is bad.' (Lance)_

Blake wiped the water from Lance's head and gave him the rest. The boy slowly took the bottle and drank all the water in one go. The medics came and took both of the injured boys to the hospital.

"You are surprisingly good at giving firs aid." - Petia praised Blake.

"Yeah, I didn't expect it. Where did you learn it?" (Shin)

"I learned it myself. My father was weak and had many health problems. He often fainted and I was the only one that could help him when happened. I dearned how to help people struck by electrycity after my dad was hit when he was fixing the lamp."

"I'm sorry I asked." (Shin)

"Don't sweat it. Let's go. We have to go and see Lance."

They left for the hospital. While the excitement from the battle still remained on the arena, in the VIP room the general rejoiced.

"Such a talent! That kid will become famous around the world, I know it!"

"Yeah, you also have to try his cooking! You'll love it!" (Kumoto)

"So, how did you met with him?" (Melinda)

"I had a problem with my eyes and it started bugging me after I began my research on ARDs, so I decided to have an eye surgery. The problem was that I had forgotten to hire a maid or a butler beforehand. I thought I was doomed but then I met him. At first he was not as experienced as now, he was also shy and didn't talk much. After some time he became better at the work and started talking more. He asked me about many things he was interested in, like animals, nature, history and culture. Even after I removed the bandages from my eyes I kept him as a worker. I even helped him with the studies, to tell you the truth he is like a sponge, he absorbs everything he's interested in. He also got addicted to anime, but that doesn't mean much. He still does his work." (Kumoto)

"That is really good of you." (Melinda)

 **BEEP! Beeeep! Attention to everyone on the ship! ARDs have been detected. The battle personel is to get ready emediately!**

"It's an emergency! Get ready!" (Alisa)

"Hah! It's been a while since I've been out in the field. I shall come with you!" (Flint)

"You are comming with us sir?" (Kurama)

"Yes, there hasn't been a battle big enough to call me these days. I have to watch out not to forget how to fight, right?" (Flint)

He followed the Student counchil.

"I hope we see each other soon general Flint, the 'Fortress'. I'll be here if you want to talk to me." (Kumoto)

=== On a plane headed to Romen ===

"Haah...I'm bored. When are going to arrive?" - a woman asked the boy next to her.

"We should arrive soon. Just wait a little more captain."

"Marty, how many times do I have to tell you that when we aren't at work you should call me Secilia? Everyone from the team but you does it." (Secilia)

"Well, I'll try to cap..."

She glares at him

"Secilia."

"That's it."

 **Attention to all pasengers! Due to the detected falling ARDs we are to delay our flight. We're landing in the nearest airport and will continue after it's safe.**

"Damn it! Did those stupid things had to fall right now?! I have to bring this journal to my friend at Romen as fast as possible!"

"I know but there is nothing you can do. Neither one of us can use a ONE, so we have to be carefull." (Marty)

"OK, fine. I'll wait like the others.


	10. Chapter 10

At the hospital an ambulance arrives. The doctors take the two boys in for a check up.

"What happened?!" - a man in his 40s asked.

"The older one was hurt during the battle. The younger was electrocuted somehow." (nurse)

"The older isn't in danger. Check the young boy first!" - he said.

"Yes!"

' _Huh? They...talking about me? This...is bad...can't understand much.' (Lance)_

They were checking the boys when Blake, Shin, Lulu and Petia came.

"How are they doctor?" (Lulu)

"They are fine. The older boy, Luxen, has minor bruises but his arm is sprained, so he won't be able to use it for a while. The other boy, Lance, is also fine. Althoug he was electrocuted he has no injury. When he wakes up, he can go home."

"That's good to hear." (Petia)

"Yes, it was all thenks to Blake's first aid that things didn't get any worse."(Shin)

"It wasn't that big of a deal." (Blake)

 **Diridiringring-shalalalalaa!**

Shin's phone rang and his friends chuckled because of the melody.

"Hello!" (Shin)

"Hi, Shin! It's me, Mary!"

"Mary! I haven't heard or seen you in quite a while. How are you?"

"I'm fine. I'm on a special training with the rest of my class. I finally got the chance, so I decided to call you. How's the situation? I heard that a kid from your class was going to have a fight with Luxen. How did it went?"

"Oh, it was amazing! Lance was so good and actually defeated Luxen!"

"Really?! I didn't expect it!"

"Yeah, me too. But something bad happened and now both of them are in the hospital." (Shin)

"Why?" (Mary)

"Luxen got beaten up seriously and Lance suddenly got electrocuted. We don't know the reason for this. His ONE just flashed and then he was struck!"

"Hmm. It might have been a side effect. Did he do something strange?"

"Yes, he got powered up like in a movie."

"It must have been an Overdrive. There has been one such case in the past, so that is the reason."

Shin heard someone calling Mary.

"I have to close now. I'll call you again!" - she hung up.

"Who was it?" (Blake)

"A childhood friend of mine. Her name is Mary. She's also in this school." (Shin)

"In which class is she?" (Petia)

"In class A-1." (Shin)

"What? Even though you are childhood friends, there is such a diference...Which number in the class is she?" (Blake)

"I don't know. We haven't talked that much but she said that the reason Lance got hurt might be because of that Overdrive thing. Do you know about it Petia?"

"I haven't seen it but I have heard. So this was an Overdrive!" - she mumbled to herself.

"Speak! Do you know about it or not?!" (Blake)

"Sorry, I got distracted. I know about it. An Overdrive is when an user releases an amazing amount of energy from his ONE. When that happens, the attacking power increases several times fold. As far as I know, in the whole army there are only five people can do it. Whit Lance, are six." (Petia)

"Wow. He shure is amazing. Who are those five people?" (Blake)

"I only know the names of three of them. First is the captain of the air army of the USA, the famous 'Invincible Phoenix' Peter Hampthon. Second is the chief of the ship Neptune, the 'Goddes of the sea' Clementine Amfaro. And the third is the most feared and according to my opinion, the strongest of the five. He was a general during the war and after the ONE was created he was one of the first to use it. They say he can deal with a whole armada of ARDs alone and they only dispatch him during an emergency. The 'Fortress' of the battlefield, general Flint Myer." (Petia)

=== Meanwhile at the control room ===

"Where are they landing?!" (Alisa)

"It's not good! They are landing 2 km away from Resca! We have less than three hours before the crash!" - a girl answers.

"Then we better hurry up." (Flint)

"General!" - the people saluted.

"Haha! There is no need to. I'll just accompany miss Alisa and her subordinates on this mission."

"Bbut..."

"There is no problem. Get the fastest boat ready, we're going there imediately!" (Alisa)

"General, please go with Kurama. He'll show you where the battle suits are." (Melinda)

"There is no need to. I'll go like that." (Flint)

She didn't try to argue with him and went to get ready. (Let me tell you the 'battle suit' isn't something like those in Hundred. It's quite plain.) They quickly got ready and departed. It was good that the ship was going to stop at Resca's harbor soon so they weren't too far away. It was bad because the ARDs were landing close to the city, close enough to start attacking as soon as they get out of the 'capsules' they were in.

"Get ready! From the data they are landing both on shore and sea. This time they detected six enemies and there is bound to be a floating type, so be wary of surprise attacks!" (Alisa)

"Roger!" - the others said.

=== Meanwhile at Resca airport ===

"I can't believe it! I should have known that something will get wrong when I had so much luck these days..." (Secilia)

"Cheer up cap- Secilia! There is no danger. The Romen base is near and I'm sure they have dispatched people to destroy the ARDs." (Marty)

 **BOOOOOM! x6**

"What was that?!" - the people got scared.

"So they have arrived...the ARDs." (Secilia)

Two landed in the sea and the rest around the city. The peole got panicked and started screaming. They ran towards the underground shelters as fast as they could but Secilia didn't budge.

"Aren't we going there?" (Marty)

"No. The ARDs are attracted to large groups of humans. Even if the shelter is safe, imagine that the exit gets blocked or a more powerfull ARD manages to get in? What are you going to do? We're going to stay here. Prepare the equipment!"

"Roger!"

 **Bziiiiing...BOOOM!**

One of the ARDs was a long range lazer canon type. It looked like a giant lazer with four legs and two 0 shaped wings. It was up in the air and was charging for the next attack when another beam hit it. It was Alisa's ONE a 'dragon' canon type. They had reached just in time.

"Kurama,Melinda, take care of the two floating types! While I and-"

"Haha! You four go to the land! I'll deal with the two here!" (Flint)

"What are you talking about?!" (Kurama)

"You didn't had time to check but I know...there is a mixed type hiding in the water. You won't be able to deal with it." (Flint)

"A MIXED type?!" (Kurama)

"Yes, you better go." (Flint)

"Roger! We'll go!" - Alisa said and led the others to deal with the ARDs on land.

The general activated his ONE. He had thick armor and a huge battle axe.

"Come at me!" (Flint)

From the water two ARDs emerged. One was a level 8 and the other was level 4 mixed type. The general was a bit disappointed. He expected a level 3 or 2 but it turned out to be 4.

' _At least I'll have a bit of action.' (Flint)_

He jumped and attacked the two ARDs. On land Alisa and the others were fighting the other ARDs. Alisa shot the flying type down and Kurama finished it with one final stab to the core. Melinda was protecting the city and Chuo had finished the second ground type. He then headed to assist Alisa and Kurama with the third ARD. It was a level 7 with extremely hard armor two tentacles that used as whips and sharp pincers. They struggled for a bit but defeated it. Then they got a call from Melinda.

"I just scanned the area. There are no ARDs. Shall I get the people out of the shelter?"

"Yes, you...WAIT! Something isn't right. There should be one more on land. Where was the last place the fourth was detected?" (Alisa)

"It was 2,3 km north-west from your current position." (Melinda)

"Let's go! We have to go there as fast as we can!" (Alisa)

They ran towards the place and reached it shortly after. There were two masked people. They wore cloth masks on the bottom of their faces. They were also covered with long mantles with hoods. Only their eyes could be seen. They weren't verry tall and looked young. In front of them laid a level 6 ARD with it's core removed. One of them had a big metal container on his back. There was a strange emblem on it. It looked like a winged snake around some strange letter.

"Stay right there and don't move!" (Kurama)

The two turned around and looked at the group.

"I told you we should have hurried." - with a muffled girl's voice said one of them.

"Shut up! I was just having a bit fun, how should I know they would come so fast?!" - the boy with the container said.

Although their voices were muffled they sounded not like adults but more like kids. They were around 15-16 years old. They were also equipped with weapons similar to the ONEs but had a bit diferent characteristics and feeling to it. To sum it up - those two were strong and dangerous.

"Who are you?!" (Alisa)

"Hehe. We are the Varions!" - the boy was quickly slapped on the neck by the birl.

"What did you do that for?!" (boy)

"IDIOT! What if they discover something about Prof. Shiroyama. Let's go!" (girl)

"Be gratefull! We're leaving you live today!" (boy)

"WAIT!" (Kurama)

They disappeared in the forest.

"What were they talking about?" (Chuo)

"I don't know but it was important. I think they are the poachers." (Alisa)

They returned to the city to help Melinda and meet with Flint. When they reached the meeting place Melinda was helping the people remove the rubble from the streets. The general came shortly after and joined them. There were a few casualities and a lot of injured. There were even crying children. The scene wasn't good. As they were talking with some of the workers Chuo noticed two people in reinforced battle clothes and with weapons coming from the airport's direction.

"Who are you?" (Chuo)

"There is no need to be so tence~." - the woman spoke.

A younger boy was following her nervously. She pulled a pink wallet with a panda on it and opened it, showing her ID card.

"I am Secilia Loiachi commander of team Alpha from the WPO's secret forces. I have come here in order to board Romen and meet with Shina Miki."

"What buisness do you have with Prof. Miki?" (Alisa)

"That...is a secret." (Secilia)


	11. Chapter 11

After their work at the city was finished, Alisa and her team took Secilia and Marty with them. They were silent almost the whole time untill Flint decided to talk.

"So, how have you been at the secret forces? I've heard that you're working pretty hard lately." (Flint)

"Oh, we're doing fine. Although there is a lot more work because of the Poachers and some missing people." (Secilia)

"I see. Now that you've mentioned it, we also met two of the poachers today." (Flint)

"Really?! How did they look? What did they say? Were there any sybols or logos on them?..." (Secilia)

"Slow down a bit. I was fighting with a level 4 at that time. Alisa and the others saw them and told me about it. If you want to know, ask them." (Flint)

"OK. Can somebody of you come with me to Miki's lab to explain about what they saw?" (Secilia)

"Why is it so important and why only one of us?" (Alisa)

"I can't tell because it might not be safe to talk about it here but it is connected to the Poachers. I would like you, Alisa-chan, to come as the leader." (Secilia)

"Got it, I'll come with you but I have to ask, can I tell others about it?"

"It depends on how serious the situation will be. For now don't tell anybody, got it?"

Alisa nodded. After a while they reached the base. Alisa brought Secilia, Marty and the general to the lab. In there Miki, Machina and Kumoto were arguing about something. When Miki saw Secilia she rushed towards her.

"Sechi!" (Miki)

"Miki-chan!" (Secilia)

They hugged tightly for quite a long but they let go in the end.

"How's it been Sechi? Is work going well?" (Miki)

"It's like always. Missions, investigations and not a single man good enough for me."

The people in the lab were shocked to hear this. Then Secilia noticed the boy.

"Who is that?"

"Haha...I'm the great genius Kumoto Hagashi! But you miss can call me however you want."

"OK then Sandal, nice to meet you."

"Wha...! Why are you calling me that way?" (Kumoto)

"Because you wear sandals with socks." (Secilia)

"So cruel..."

"Now, let's return to buisness. What were you going to show me? I couldn't understand well when you called." (Miki)

"Is it safe here? I don't want someone to spy on us." (Secilia)

Miki walked to the entrance of the lab and locked it.

"Now, no one would be able to hear or see us. Continue."

"Firstly, I want everybody here to know that if you want to stay, you'll have to keep this a top secret. No one outside should know about this."

She then explained about their investigation and Prof. Antonov's secret lab. The things they found on the computers and the book she hid from the others. She told them about the things written in the diary, as she gave it to Miki, and the data about ARD core on the computers. There was a list with the number, date and hour of recieved cores and ARD body parts, there were also files about the contents of the core, chemical structure and other. Even a theory of the usage of them. Unfortunately most of the data was lost. Then Alisa was asked to explain about what she saw.

"Now that I heard this, I am sure this will help you. They were young, around my age. A boy and a girl with weapons similar to our ONEs and robes covering them. The boy introduced them as Varions and the girl mentioned someone named Prof. Shiroyama."

When they heard that name, the others frowned. They knew this wasn't good.

"What? Is something wrong?" (Alisa)

"It's verry bad. You mustn't know about him because it's top secret but I'll tell you. Shiroyama was an assistant researcher and helped in the creation of the ONE but one day, in the second year of the war, she illegaly downloaded almost all the data from WPO's computers and disappeared. No one knew if she was dead or alive but she is still on the wanted list. Now that we heard it, we know that she is alive and is probably the one that commands those Varions, probably the one that made them too." (Miki)

"What do you mean by 'made them'?" (Secilia)

"From the data in the diary, thay are menioned as something created for some goal but I still don't know what. Especially that level 0 bughs me." (Miki)

"Let me see the diary." (Kumoto)

Miki handed him the book. He opened it on the mentioned earlier page and started reading with a serious expression.

"What can you possibly find so fast Sandal?" (Secilia)

"Shut up!" he closed the diary and looked at he "You had it for so long and didn't figure much but I got most of it. Wanna hear?"

"Oh, really? Tell us!" (Secilia)

"He was searching trough the USA's secret data. I know because there is no such thing in WPO's servers. If there was general Flint here would have said something. They won't hide something like that from one of the five Overdrivers. As you might know, Japan no longer has goverment. It was destroyed the first year of the war. Only one island is currently populated, no one dares to try and rebuild it untill the ARDs disappear. That leaves only the USA. I'm not sure about the reason they hid the info about the level 0 but was probably because the people needed hope that time. If they heard that, they would have fallen in despair. It's also a mystery where that level 0 disappeared to, for now I suggest to stand by and be ready in case it appears again..." - he stopped for a minute to take a breath and remembered something.

When he was younger, he snuck out of the shelter to go to his house in order to take some of his dad's files.

=== Flashback===

The sky was red and the houses were burning while explosions were heard from the city. His house was on one of the beaches in California. He was kneeling next to his dying father.

"cough. Listen to me now, son, take these keys and go to the basement! There is a safe. The code is 2032,cough, in there is an USB memory and a CD disk. Take them with you and keep them safe! Also...destroy everything in the basement. There is a red button hidden behind the safe. Press it and run as far as possible. It will blow my lab in 30 minutes."

"OK, dad, I'll do this!"

Then an explosion was heard near their house. A jetplane had fallen in the water. He could see everything from the hole in the wall. The pilot landed on the beach a few seconds later. He had succesfully opened his parachute and was fine. He was cursing but when he saw Kumoto, he shouted.

"Kid, what are you still doing here?" - he ran towards Kumoto and grabbed him.

"Let me go!" (Kumoto)

"Are you nuts?! You'll die if you stay here! I'm taking you to the shelter!"

He dragged him by force and didn't let him go back to the basement. A few days later he snuch out of the shelter by climbing up one of the airvents. He was slim and short when he was young. He had eye problems so he wore glasses and had almost no presence, so it was easy for him to do it. He ren to his house and entered the basement. He took the USB and CD, moved the safe aside and saw the button. It was covered by a locked plastic lid. He used the small key and unlocked it. He pressed it and ran out as fast as he could. He got out from the hole in the wall. He was about to turn around and head to the shelter when something caught his eye. He looked at the sea. Below the cloudy sky, at the horizon an almost invisible blue light flashed for a few seconds and disappeared. He then returned back to the shelter.

===End of Flashback===

"What is it? Is there something wrong?" (Marty)

"No, I just remembered sonething. Let's return back to the topic. He was working on a project to create those Varions. There might be more things he was working on but I'm not 100% sure. Those Varions are genetically modyfied humans that can use those weapons similar to ONEs and probably are quite a lot stronger if you have in mind why they were created. Finally, according to his notes, there might me another 'Starfall' some time in the future."

They didn't expect him to discover so much by reading trough the diary once. Also the news for the genetically modyfied humans and possibility of a new 'Starfall' made everyone tence.

"How can they?! To do such things to humans, moreover children! This is unacceptable!" (Alisa)

"Calm down! If you are this angry go utside. I don't want any of the equipment here to break because of you." (Miki)

"OK. I'll calm down." (Alisa)

"For now we shouldn't tell anyone. You should go and do your things, Alisa-chan. We'll investigate this thing more." (Secilia)

Alisa then went out. A few minutes after her the general also left. He was going back to HQ in Europe and was going to investigate on his own. Kumoto and Miki were going to look trough the diary some more. Secilia and Marty were going to stay in Romen for some more time.

=== At the hospital ===

Lance slowly opened his eyes. He sat up and looked around. He was lying on a hospital bed. His eyes were a bit hazy but he was still looking around.

' _пфэиыѝэщ##€₸¿π^°°¦_ _...still not good. I'm dizzy. Can't see or hear well. Where is this?'_

A nurse was entering and saw him awake. She quickly went and called his friends.

"Lance!" (Petia)

"I'm glad you're OK. We got so worried!" (Shin)

Blake just smiled lightly when he saw him awake. He didn't show it but was happy.

"Do you want something to drink, eat or help with something?" (Shin)

"...home."

"What?" (Petia)

"...go home...and sleep." (Lance)

They helped him get up because he was sluggish and dizzy. They used one of the taxis to drive them back. It was a long day and as soon as Lance got to his bed, he fell asleep and didn't move anymore.


	12. Chapter 12

**Day at the beach/Midterm battle**

By the time Romen reached it's next stop, Lance had recovered and was back to his daily routine. On the other hand some of Luxen's wounds were still healing and he was still angry because he lost. Romen's next stop was Galapagos islands' biggest harbor town- Lima. After the ARDs were removed from the islands, the cities were quickly reconstructed and turned into an important place for the army and normal people. Romen was stopping there to reload food, they already had a water filtration system. While the staff was reloading, the students had free time and went to the city to have fun, relax, try to fool around and most inportantly, to go to the beautifull beach.

"Lance, Shin, come here already! The ship stopped!" (Petia)

"We're comming!" (Shin)

They both got down with their stuff. Shin was wearing a T-shirt, shorts, sneakers and a cap. He brought a backpack with him. Lance wore a thin flowery T-shirt, shorts, sandals, straw hat and was applying sunscreen on his face. He brought a big sack with him.

"Isn't that a bit too much?" - Petia asked Lance.

She was wearing a beautifull light green dress.

"No, these stuff are needed for a good day at the beach!" - he said with a hyped voice.

"Huh?" (Petia)

"You might not believe it but it's his first time going to the beach." (Shin)

"Really?! I'm sorry, I didn't knew it was your first time."

"Don't mind it. Blake, aren't you hot with this?" (Lance)

Blake was entirely in black and gray.

"No, I'm not. Let's stop chatting and go to the beach already."

They left the ship and headed to the city.

"This here is the harbor. We have to pass trough the ciry's main coastal street to get to the beach." - Petia said while looking at her phone's GPS.

"We're going to pass trough the city on the way back too, right?" (Shin)

"Yes, we are." (Petia)

"Then, let's visit some shops on the way back instead of only staying on the beach." (Shin)

"That's a good idea. Do you two also agree?" - Petia looked at Blake and Lance.

"I don't mind." (Blake)

"I want to see the city too!" (Lance)

"OK. Then we'll leave a bit earlier to have time for the shops." (Petia)

They walked for a bit and reached the beach. There, some of the other students had already unpacked their stuff and had settled down a spot. Some were sunbathing, playing games, reading under the umbrellas or swimming, there were also people from the town and tourists. The four friends went to the booth on the beach and rented two umbrellas, then they found a nice place and put their stuff there. Lance was the first to get his clothes off. He had put his swimsuit on before they left their room. He opened his sack and started pulling stuff out. Beach towel, sunscreen, plastic buckets, shovels, beach ball and etc. The others were surprised how mich he had prepared for this. Blake layed down on the beach, under the umbrella while Lance and the other two were in the water. They had a great time. Swimming, playing beach ball, eating icecream, diving underwater, Lance even recieved a prize. Apparently there was a sandcastle making contest. While Petia, Blake and Shin weren't watching lance had taken the buckets and started building a sandcastle. They heard a commotion and when they looked, they saw Lance recieving the first prize from the jury and the reporters were taking pictures of him and his castle. To everyone's amazement, he had made a two metre tall and three metre wide castle with a circular wall and a gate made from a plank. Shin even introduced Mary and Violet to his friends. It was time, so they headed to the city. There they visited some souvenir shops, street restaurants, an arcade and sweets shops. Their luggage was almost twice as big as when they left the ship. Of course Lance was carying the most.

' _I wonder how can he carry so much without getting tired.' (Blake)_

=== After some time, the beggining of the Midterm battle===

First were the first years. They always began with them and finished with the third years. After the end of the oficial pointless blabbering, I mean opening ceremony the tournament began. Every student was going to fight a random oponent from the same year.

[First match is Blake from class C-1 and Jack from class B-1.]

"Good luck Blake!" (Petia)

"Figt!" (Lance)

"No need to. I'll win." - Blake said with determination.

Indeed he won before the 2nd minute had passed.

"You were amazing! It's bad that non-combat types of ONEs don't participate. Otherwise I would have helped you a lot." (Petia)

"No problem. When we start doing missions, you'll be verry helpfull." (Shin)

The battles continued the whole day. Lance, Shin and Blake, surpassed the audience's expectations. They reached the top 8 of the first years. Tomorrow they were going to fight and aim for the final round.

Shin vs Max from class B-1

Blake vs Fiona from class A-1

Shin vs Sofia from class A-1

Mary from class A-1 vs Yuuto class C-1

Unexpectedly 4 student from class C had reached this part of the battle. Moreover the womanizer Yuuto, Shin with a 'spearow' and Lance with a 'cat' type. No one expected two of the 'useless' types of ONE to qualify but the people that were in the VIP room. They knew about Lance's potential but were also pleased with Shin's results.

===VIP room===

"I'm verry surprised to see this year's new students. It might be possible to have a C class student reaching winning the final round." (Miki)

"Don't be too confident in them. After all there was a reason for them to be in the C class." (Alisa)

"Come on, Ali-chan. You know that not always things go acording to one's expectations. There is always something that could surprize you in this world." (Miki)

"Yeah, for once she is right." (Kumoto)

Miki glared at him with malice. She extremely disliked people criticizing her without a solid reason.

"Neverthless, I'm verry proud of Lance. He reached this far without using the Overdrive even once." (Kumoto)

"Yeah, he has become much better. Let's see what happens tomorrow. There might be something interesting." (Miki)

They left the room.


	13. Chapter 13

The second day of the Midterm battle came. Everyone was excited because of the unthinkable results from the day before. The firs battle was between Shin and Max from class B-1. This was Shin's second battle with a B class student. Almost all of his previous oponents were C class. When he fought with the other B class student yesterday, he almost lost but in the last moment he dodged and striked his oponent with one of his short swords, making him lose. Max had a 'bear' type ONE, it was strong but quite slow.

'Ok. I'll use my speed and strike him quickly.' (Shin)

He used the thrusters to boost his speed even more and attacked. He hit Max with a lot of force and pushed him a bit backwards but it wasn't enough. He was still unharmed, despite the heavy slashes by Shin's blades.

[Ooooooh! It seems that Max is still fine. What will happen now?] - the commentator said.

Then Max swung his palm towards Shin's body. Shin senced that the attack was charged with quite a lot of energy, so he tried to dodge. Unfortunately, he was a bit slower and Max managed to hit his leg and tripped him. Shin rolled on the ground a few times. When he stopped and tried to stand up, Max had already gotten to him.

'Oh, no.' (Shin)

He was hit once again and sent flying. He managed to keep his balance a bit, used the thrusters to slow his falling down and landed without crashing. Shin was panting and standing unsteadily. He was still in daze from the shock when he was hit, his head was spinning.

'This is bad. If this coninues, Shin will lose!' (Mary & Petia at the same time)

Max rushed towards Shin and charged a lot of energy into his fists. He was going to finish it with a big boom.

"You're finished!" (Max)

Shin looked at the running Max with his fists glowing, charged with the energy.

'I guess I'm going to loose, huh? It's good enoug. I reached here with my own strenght. Even if I don't reach the semi-finels, it will still be very good.' (Shin)

Then both Mary and Petia shouted.

"Don't give up! Figt, Shin!"

When he heard that something flashed in Shin's mind. A memory of the past that he had almost forgotten. Then, with determination, he looked up and used his blades to guard against Max's attack. He charged them with energy for more protection but he didn't have enough time. He was hit and flung onto the wall. Athough tere was no blood Shin was hurt badly. His head was spinning, his eyesight was blurry and he couldn't make his body move. A glint caught his attention, it was his mother's favourite pendant, which he was entrusted with by her during the day of the 'Starfall' .

=== Flashback ===

Three days had passed since the 'Starfall' . Shin, Mary, Viki, Jack and the other surviviors were waiting in the shelter for the army's convoy to come and take them to a safer place. They could hear explosions from time to time. The smaller children would cry whenever they heard them, their parents hopelessly tried to make them stop, as to not attract the attention of the ARDs. Soldiers were guarding outside, waiting to mobilize at any time. Shortly after the convoy came. They helped the elderly and sickly people get in the armored trucks. Shin got on the last truck, while his friends on the other ones. When they were ready, the convoy left. Because many trucks moving together would attract more attention, they split at some point of the road. Each truck took a different route towards Banley base. The truck Shin was on passed trough a mountain road no one used. Althought it was bumpy, it was hidden by a lot of trees, it was located on a small mountain near the city. It was supposed to be safe but...it wasn't.

 **Pfsheeeew! BOOOM!**

Something fell in front of the truck and exploded. It couldn't penetrate the armor but the truck fell down the mountain. When it stopped falling and the passengers calmed down, a few of the adults opened the door. The people slowly walked out and saw that they were had fallen back to the outer part of the city. he fall was pretty long and there were people with fractures or broken bones. One of the men tried to go and ask the drivers what happened but to his horror, they had died from the explosion.

"What are we going to do now?" - a woman asked.

They heard rustling from the trees on the mountain and saw an ARD coming down. They panicked and ran in different directions. Shin ran down a small back alley. He ran and ran, not looking back. He was afraid that he would see a monster if he did so. He reached the city centre and stopped. He was out of breath, panting, covered in sweat. He frantically looked around. There was nothing. He was about to sigh in relief when, suddenly, something hit him from the back. He flew a few metres and crashed into the glass window of a clothes shop, falling on the floor with the mannequins. He cried in pain. He was cut by the glass pieces. He weakly stood up and saw a lizard-like, five metre long ARD. He lost his color in an instant. He became deathly pale. The figure of a man appeared in the corner of his eye. It was a soldier! The boy looked at him with hope to be saved but the soldier screamed and ran away when he saw the ARD, leaving him alone with the monster. Shin slowly backed away from the monster.

'Wwhy?...Why did that soldier ran and left me here? Is there realy no hope?' - Shin thought.

As he made another step back, he slipped and fell down backwards. He hit his head on something metal. His consciousness started to slip again.

'Am I going to...die?...No, I don't want...to. I...promised mom...'

Before everything went black and he lost consciousness, he heard a sound like a sharp blade cutting fish and a liquid splashing loudly. When he was aware again, he was slowly walking towards Banley base. It was only a hundred metres in front of him. He was still groggy and couldn't understand the situation imediately but when he did, he was extremely happy. He ran towards it at full force. He was still feeling pain but ran. The soldiers were surprised to see him but took him in and led him to the infirmary. He rested for a while after his injuries were treated.

"You are lucky, boy. Your injuries aren't serious and only need a few bandages." - the nurse said as she sticked the last one on his scraped knee.

"Thank you miss." (Shin)

He then went to look for his friends. To his surprise the convoy hadn't arrived, yet. He was very worried but still waited, that was all he could do. A little before the sun set, the convoy came. Every truck was there, except the one he was in of course. He rushed towards them. When his friends saw him, their smiles quickly returned. They hugged eachoder and cried for quite a while. He was safe, his friends too. Everything was fine on the outside but not on the inside. Back there, in the city, something inside of Shin's mind cracked. Without him knowing, something appeared, deep in his subconsciousness. A wild and cruel desire for survival.

=== End of flashback ===

He had forgotten about this one incident for some reason. Now, because of the dire situation he was in and the burst of emotions, it sufaced again.

Max stood in front of Shin, still sneering.

"What's up? Have you given up already shrimp?"

He charged some more energy, ready to attack again.

"Stop it already! He has no way to fight, right?" (Petia)

"If he's still consciousnous, he can fight. In other words, I'm still not the winner. That's why-GAH!" (Max)

With a lightning speed, Shin kicked Max and sent him flying a few metres high. Everyone in the arena was speechless. When did he do it? From where did he take this power from? Shin leaned forward, gripping his blades tightly, he activated the thrusters and flew towards Max. An amazing amount of energy was released from his ONE, especially from his blades. At that moment they changed shape. The metal blades split in two and opened. From there a metre long plasma blade grew. Like an enraged beast, Shin continuouslu slashed at max with lightning speed. The other boy couldn't react, nor escape. From the side it looked like Shin had just gone mad, nothing else, but if they could catch a glimpse of shin's eyes, tey would be scared. His kind, light brown eyes had turned electic green with cat-like pupils. Just like a beast's. Moreover green veins had appeared on the white part of his eye. What had happened to him?


	14. Chapter 14

=== In the VIP room ===

"Unbelivable! Another kid from the C class can activate an 'Overdrive' ?! This year there are much more talents compared to the past five years." (Miki)

"Yeah, but I have a strange feeling about it. It might become scary." (Kurama)

On the arena Shin was attacking nonstop. Max couldn't even see the attacks, he could only defend. Soon his defence was broken and Shin realeased a more powerfull slash at Max. The other boy was sent flying. He fell on the floor and lost consciousness.

[Max is down! The winner is Shin!]

"Guh!" (Shin)

Suddenly Shin's face became pained. He swayed a few times and fell to the ground. His ONE returned to normal.

"Shin!" - Petia shouted and ran towards him.

When she reached and tuned him face up, she saw that he was sleeping. She was relieved but in the same time embarrased. Lance unexpectedly grabbed Shin's shoulders and started shaking him like mad.

"Oi, Shin, wake up! You can't get knocked out right now! You have much more matches to win!"

"Ugh..." (Shin)

"Stop shaking him like that! You might snap his nech from all this!" - Blake smacked Lance on the head.

"Ouch!" (Lance)

Shin slowly opens his eyes and looks at his friends.

"Ugh...wha..What happened?"

"You suddenly fell down and we were worried." (Petia)

"Yeah, you really scared us." (Blake)

"What happened to the match?" (Shin)

"You don't remember? You won! That jerk Max didn't stood a chance!" (Blake)

"Really?" (Shin)

"Yes, you are great, Shin!" (Petia)

They helped him get to the bench and have some rest while the medics took Max away. From the side Lance smiled slightly.

'So...that's how it feels, huh?...'

After that Blake won the match against Fiona from class A. He managed to defeat her because she made a blunder and he used his spear's super charge attack.

"Yeah! That's the 'Naga Charge' for ya!" - Shin shouted at that time.

'Haah...did he have to shout like that? He and his naming sence.' (Blake)

"I haven't agreed with the name ya know." - he said when he returned to the bench.

"Why? It sounds cool doesn't it? And I also thought of a name for Shin's new attack. Wanna hear it?" (Lance)

"Our answer won't stop you, right?" (Shin)

Lance nodded for Yes.

"OK, fine. Tell us." (Shin)

"I decided to call it 'Lazer Fury' , how does that sound?"

"Hm...It's actually pretty good." (Shin)

"I know." (Lance)

During their conversation Mary had defeated Yuuto almost instantly with her overwhelming power and speed. Mary's ONE was a very rare and powerful type called 'wyvern' . (By the way, I just noticed that I haven't described how Shin and Mary look. Sorry. Shin is a typical Japanese boy, with normal look and figure, short spiky hair and high spirit. Mary is an Amirican girl with long broun, wavy hair and green eyes. She is quite tall for a girl and is taller than Shin by 5 cm.) It was also because Yuuto was fooling around. For a guy like him, reaching this part was enough. Lance's turn came after that. He used surprise attacks to confuse Sofia and then used his claws (refers to the blades of the weapon) to defeat her.

The croud was surprized. For the first time something like this had happened 3 students from the C class to reach the semi-finals. The chance for someone from the C class to win was very big. The pairs for the fight were like this:

Blake vs Mary

Shin vs Lance.

First were Mary and Blake. The fight was intence. It continued for 10 whole minutes before Mary won. Even though Blake had used the 'Naga Charge' he didn't win. His energy ran out at the end and Mary won.

=== At the VIP room ===

"It really was an amazing battle. If that C class kid's energy hadn't ran out, it might have cotinued a bit longer." (?)

"Oh, it seems that you finally had your intrest up, am I right Mrs Hofen?" (Miki)

A woman in elegant black and gray dress, that had been quietly sitting at the back of the room, finally said something. She was an important guest, a representative sent from WPO's HQ to watch the battle. Because of Lance's previous achievement, the 'Overdrive' activation, the higherups at HQ became interested in Romen base. They sent her to look if there is something important during the Midterm battle. She was disappointed at first, because Lance didn't use the 'Overdrive' , but was then pleased and a bit surprized when she saw Shin. Finally she commented on the battle.

"If I remember corectly from the data, a 'snake' type is far less powerfull than a 'wyvern' type. How did he demonstrate such power and last this long? His energy should have ran out a long time ago." (Hofen)

"Actually the explanation is verry simple. His ONE has 'groun' stronger." (Miki)

"What do you mean?" (Hofen)

"Because we researchers are in touch with ONEs almost every day, we know some things that aren't written in all of the documents. Do you remember seeing the examinations of a person and his one and noticing that the results of both are improving with time?" (Miki)

"Yes, I have. Is that your 'growing' ?"

"Precicely, although it's a non living object, a ONE is made to adapt to the user and transfor from the 'formless' bracelet into a weapon, specifically made for the person. Once it takes that form, no one else can use it. That's what I call 'taking form' . The ONE also has the ability to 'grow' with the user and improve trough battles. That's why in Romen there are so many tournaments and training programs, including real battles with ARDs when the students are ready. There is also the possibility to 'evolve' an ONE but for now the five 'Overdrivers' are the closest ones to be able to do such thing." (Miki)

"What is that 'evolving' you mentioned?" (Hofen)

"Oh, this is ascending the current form of a person's ONE and changing it to a higher, more powerful version with even better possibility to 'grow' and develope. Unfortunalely, no one has been able to do it, yet." (Miki)

"That's really unfortunate." (Hofen)

"Yes, but I believe that among the new generation there will be people that will make this possible and will surpass all before them." (Miki)

=== At the arena ===

"Petia, where is Lance? Our match will start any moment now." (Shin)

"I-I don't know! He was here a moment ago. When I noticed, he had disappeared!"

[Please, Shin and Lance, come to the arena.]

Shin walked to the middle of the arena and stood there, waiting for Lance.

'What should I do if he doesn't come? I will win but he...And if he comes? I had never fought with one of my friends. And now I'll have to fight with Lance if I win with Mary, too.' (Shin)

Everyone waited for Lance but he didn't come. After 10 minutes...

[It seems like Lance didn't come to fight on time. The winner is Shin!]

The croud was disappointed. There were comments like:

"He was afraid to come." or "He is such a looser. Because he was going to fight with a friend, he gave up and didn't came at all!" .

'That's strange. Where could have Lance went?' (Kumoto)

=== Meanwhile somewhere in the wilderness ===

 **BOOOOOOOOOOOM! x2**

Two ARD capsules crashed on the ground, creating a deep crater. Unlike other times, these capsules were smaller and looked more special with a metalic cover insear of rock-like. They cracked and opened slowly. From them two ARDs emerged. They were humanoids - one of the strongest. They were both level 3 so they weren't as dangerous as a level 2 or 1. They walked and when they were about to get out of the crater, something incredibly fast flew past by them and landed in front of them. It created a lot of smoke so they couldn't see it, yet. Then the ARD on the right shrieked in agony. Without realising it, it's arm had been cut. With a lot of anger both ARDs looked in front of them. There stood a human figure, all in black, blending with the night darkness to the point it was almost invisible. Only part of the shilouette could be seen. The figure flickered and disappeared. It reappeared behind the two ARDs. They didn't have time to even turn around when they crumbled to the ground. They had been sliced horizontally in that brief moment. The figure's arms were covered in green fluids, dripping on the ground. The figure then left the place of the crash, taking the two capsules and ARD bodies.

=== At base Brutos ===

 **[Beeeep!Beep! Attention to everyone on the ship! ARDs have been detected. The battle personel is to get ready emediately!]**

"Oh, man! Did they have to appear this late in the night? Couldn't they have waited to become morning?" - a man complained.

"Stop yapping! Get ready!" - another man told him.

Base Brutos was a base in Asia. That's why it turned to a night scenery. Different time zone from Romen.

The team that was dispatched left in a hurry and headed towards the crash site. When they reached the crater, they only saw an empty space and a lot of green fluid splashed on the ground.

"What the heck happened here?!" (Man1)


	15. Chapter 15

The final battle for the first years! It's Shin vs Mary.

"Mary! Congratulations, you reached the finals!" (Shin)

"Yeah, you too. But now... we'll have to fight each other." (Mary)

 **[3...2...1...Begin!]**

"Haah...It would have been better if your friend, Lance, had to fight with me but...this is fine. And don't you dare give up! This fight is the final for the first years, let's make it grand!" (Mary)

"OK!" (Shin)

The fight began. They clashed continuously. The battle looked intence but Mary wasn't going seriously. If she went all out, the battle would have ended in a flash. After all she's A class' No. 2, she wouldn't loose easyly to anyone from the first years. It continued like that for a while but Shin decided to use his 'Energy Wing' attack to try and inflict some damage but Mary was faster and she dodged the first slash. Shin released a few more but his ONE's energy was running out so he stopped. Mary took the chance and attacked. Shin couldn't dodge her attack and was hit. This was the end.

[The winner is Mary from class A.]

The croud cheered. Mary deactivated her ONE and helped Shin get up from the ground. They wwalked to the benches and sat there, waiting for the second years.

"So, that's your friend fron class A, huh?" (Blake)

"Yes, this is Mary. Mary, those are my friends from the class, Blake and Petia. Lance disappeared somewhere, so he isn't here." (Shin)

"Nice to meet you. I'm Mary, Shin's childhood friend."

"It's nice to meet you." (Peatia)

"Hi." (Blake)

The two girls shook hands. Blake just left after the introduction to get something to eat.

"You were really amazing Mary. You finished it with one shot." (Petia)

"Don't you think Shin was also amazing during the battle?" (Mary)

"Cut it out! I know you held back during the whole time!" (Shin)

"How did you know?" (Mary)

"Your face changes when you're serious, that's how!" (Shin)

"Y-you really weren't serious?" (Petia)

"Haah...Yes, I wasn't." (Mary)

"I heard you were in A class. Which number are you?" (Petia)

"I'm number 2 in class."

"WHAT?! You're second ranked?!" (Petia)

"Why are you shouting? Is it that great of a thing?" (Shin)

"Of course it is! The smaller the number, the higher the talent of the person is. If she's No.2 then this means that she is the second best among the first years." (Petia)

"You really were that great?" - Shin's face became glooomy.

"C-cheer up Shin!" (Mary)

"Y-yeah, it's not like all kids from A class are monstrously strong, right?" (Petia)

"Shure they aren't! Hahaha!" (Mary)

"You're lying again, Mary! You only laugh like that when you lie!" (Shin)

Both Shin and Petia looked at Mary, waiting for the truth.

"The truth is that A class' only sent me as a representative of the top 5. The others didn't come. If they did come, no one from the other classes would have reached the semi-finals."

Her answer shocked them. Shin started to wonder what kind of strong people are the Top 5 and made his mind up to become even stronger. To be able to use the amazing power he used in the battle with Max freely. After that they chatted untill the end of the second day. On the way back to the dorms, Shin looked worried. Lance hadn't showed up since he disappeared.

'Something might have happened to him.' (Shin)

He was unlocking the door of his room thinking.

'Should I call the hospital, the school or the guards?'

He entered the dim lit room and heard a verry familliar mumbling and light snoring comming from the bedroom. Lance was sleeping in his bed.

'Thank God. He's fine. I have to be quiet in order not to wake him up.'

He walked into the kitchen and turned the lights on. There were a few plates drying next to the sink.

'He must have eaten something not too long ago.'

He was going to go to the fridge to take out something to eat when he hit his leg on one of the chairs, lost his balance and fell on the tiled floor. He protected his face with his hand as he fell.

"Ouch..." - Shin stood up slowly.

He was rubbing his leg when he noticed that his left hand was bleeding. It was nothing much, just his palm was scraped.

'Oh, I'll have to put some bandage on it. But it's strange, there shouldn't have been anything sharp to make it bleed.' (Shin)

After that the battles continued for two days. They were really intence and interesting. After the end of the Midterm battle, the students and all other people had the next day to enjoy themselves at the festival. There were many street stalls selling food and sweets, games and even a concert in the evening. Mary, Shin, Petia, Lance and Blake went out together to celebrate. On their way back a boy stopped them. The boy was tall and muscular, with a bit angry look in his eyes and brouwnish hair. It was Kurama from the Student counchil. He introduced himself briefly and told them to follow him.

"Why are you looking for us? Where are we going?" (Shin)

"We're going to the Student counchil's meeting room. Miss Alisa wants to see you." (Kurama)

The five of them gluped when thhey heard this. What would the scary President want from them? They entered the room, Kurama stayed outside. In there Alisa was sitting on a chair behind a big desk, reading a book. When they entered she closed it and looked at them. On her right side Melinda was sitting on a couch, waiting.

""Good evening!"" (Shin and co.)

"Good evening. As you know, I wanted to see you tonight, right?"

"Yes." (Mary)

"Let me get straight to the point. I want you to form a team and start the practical training course." (Alisa)

The five of them were surprised by her words.

'What's that Practical training course?' (Lance)

"As you might know this includes special training and going on the field and fight real ARDs. From your results at the Midterm battle, you five are ready to do such things. Most of the other students have to wait a bit more for it, untill the end of their first year at most. Each team requires to have at least 5 members and your abilities match well as a team, so I want your agreement and to sign this. Melinda!" (Alisa)

Melinda stood up and gave them a sheet each. There was all the needed information, only the student's signature was missing.

"Would you agree or not is up to you. It's either now or you'll wait like everyone else." (Alisa)

After a moment of hesitation, Shin signed it. Seeing that Lance also signed. After that were Mary, Petia and Blake at the end.

"Good. Come here tomorrow at 10:00. I'll be waiting." (Alisa)

""Yes!"" (Shin and co.)

They went out, leaving Alisa and Melinda alone.

"It went better than expected. I can finish the documentation earlier than expected." - Alisa chuccled.

=== Somewhere in the USA ===

"Prof. Shiroyama, we're back."

A boy and a girl in black robes enter a lab. They're the same two Alisa and the others encountered. They were the two Varions. This time they weren't wearing masks and the hoods of their robes were down. The boy had brownish-green, spyky hair and glowing cat-like green eyes with a quite a bit of tan. The girl had a medium lenght blonde hair, tied in a ponytail. Her skin was white and clean, her eyes were also like the boy's.

"Good job acomplishing the mission this time without any errors. Leave the containers here. You may leave." (Shiroyama)

The two were carying two big metal containers. They put them on the designated place,their eyes turned back normal (black for the boy, blue for the girl) and were about to leave when Shiroyama said something.

"Go to the meeting room at sector D. Clayton will tell you and the others the new information."

""Understood!""

They left the lab and headed to the meeting room. On the way there:

"Man, we just came after a mission to take five ARD cores and now we'll have to go and recieve instructions from Clayton. This sucks, can't they give us at least a day break?" (boy)

 **SLAP!** He wa hit by the girl yet again.

"That hurt, Irina!" (boy)

"Shut up Xant! You are in no position to complain about the professor's orders!" (Irina)

"I was just commenting! I wasn't complaining or opposing them!" (Xant)

They soon reached the room and entered. There was a round table with a lot of chairs and a big desk. Prof. Shiroyama's chair stood behind the desk. In front of five chairs around the table were labels with numbers. The numbers were 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. On the chair behinf No.10 was sitting a young man in his early 20s with brown hair and a scar across his cheek. It was Clayton.

"I was waiting for you, sit down."

Xant sat at No.6 and Irina at No.8. Then the man started talking.

"As you might know, Prof. Shiroyama needs more cores recently, so we'll have to do a lot of work recently."

"Yes, we know. Where are Cala and Sam?" (Xant)

"They haven't returned from the mission, yet. Back to the toppic... there have been some really strange things happening lately. A few times, when I was on a mission I couldn't get the ARD cores." (Clayton)

"You couldn't get them? I thought there was no one as strong as you among the normal soldiers of WPO." (Irina)

"There isn't. The problem is,... the ARDs were destroyed before I got to them. To tell you the truth, it was pretty messy. There were parts of the ARDs scattered everywhere. The most shocking thing was that when I decided to look around, there were no signs of WPO's soldiers. In fact, they hadn't even come, yet. That means a third party has appeared behind the scene. Even I'm not sure if I can defeat the one who did it, so be extra carefull when you go on missions." (Clayton)

Xant and Irina shuddered. Clayton was the strongest of the Varions. It would be really bad if he can't do anything to that mysterious third party.

"That's all. Dismissed!" (Clayton)

They left the room. Xant was walking towards his room when the alarm started.

 **BEEEEEEP! BEEEEP! [Attention everyone! Riot in cell 3! Repeat, riot in cell 3!]**

Many guards were running frantically with sleeping part guns and electric guns.

'Oh, seems like No.5 has gone mad again. It hadn't happened for a while.' (Xant)

No.5 was the fifth Varion Shiroyama had made. In tottal there were ten people she took as test subjects for the Varion project. They were orphaned kids she took after her betrayal. They were experimented on for a few years untill the five complete varions were made. From the other five, four died and one turned into a burden. He became crazy and started attacking everyone. Because they could use him to get more data, he is kept alive, locked in a special reinforced cell. Because he is verry violent and strong, they keep him sedated most of the time, but sometimes he would wake up and go berserk.

=== At Shiroyama's lab ===

"You were calling me." (Clayton)

"Yes. I have a mission for you. I have gathered enough data from No.5 and he isn't needed here anymore."

"Do you want me to kill him?" - Clayton was puzzled.

"No. He can be usefull for one last thing. After he is sedated, I want you to take him to the city of Carlota, in the southern states of Gordania. Give him a weapon and release him. He'll create enough chaos and give hard tive to those ONE users od the WPO." (Shiroyama)

"Yes, as you command!" (Clayton)

Then he left. Shiroyama laughed alone in her lab, turned around and looked at her computer. She pressed a button and the screen lit up, revealin a comlex chart full of calculations, data and a model of an ARD.

"Now...What will you do? My dear, dear friend Miki?"


	16. Chapter 16

**Volume 2 ch.1**

The next day Shin and co. came together to the Student counchil's meeting room. While they waited Shin decided to talk with Mary for a bit.

"So, Mary, you said that only you from A class' top 5 participated. Why weren't they there?"

"Because the top 5 recieve special training from the start of the school year. We were out training on the land or in special training room on the ship. When I called you, we were in one of the bases in SSG (Southern states of Gordania). In Zingela, to be exact. When we returned, we were supposed to stay for a few days and then leave for another place but I decided to stay for the Midterm battle. Instead of me, Violet went with them." (Mary)

"Is that so? Wait! Violet? She gt permission to go to practical training earlier than us?" (Shin)

"Yes, because of the five person rule she had to train alone. As you might know, there may be much more than 5 people at a team but the training we've been trough was meant for five person team only. The teacher said 'When you have enough experience, you may increase the number of members on your team. For now, five is enough for you, brats!' and didn't allow her to join. In the end, it was good that the President allowed you to join, too. But let me warn you something, be prepared for anything." (Mary)

Shin, Petia and Lance nodded. Blake was as indifferent as before. Then the door opened and Melinda invited them in. Alisa was waiting for them next to the desk, holding a few papers.

""Good morning!""

"Good morning to you too. Come and take your assignment lists." - She handed the papers to them and each took one.

"Now, I'll explain what will be your training as a team. Together with me and a few other people, you'll go to the WPO training base in Carlota. There you'll train and observe the work of proffesionals. After you complete your training, you'll start fighting with real ARDs little by little. Got it?" (Alisa)

""Yes!""

"OK. Go and pack your stuff. The boat to Carlota leaves today at 15:30 from dock 5." (Alisa)

After that Shin, Lance, Mary, Blake and Petia exited the room.

"Are you sure this is alright president? Isn't it too sudden for first years?" (Melinda)

"It's fine! As you know, a person needs to fight to get experience. Also, the two boys that can use 'Overdrive' need to get even more experience. That's why I did it." (Alisa)

=== On the way back to the dorms ===

Blake, Shin and Lance were walking back to their dorm when Lance stopped.  
"Ah! If we're going to be away for a long time, I need to buy some more stuff and inform the Professor! You can go without me, I'll return soon!" - after he said that, Lance ran off to somewhere.

"Just come back on time, OK?" (Shin)

"Got it!" (Lance)

Lance went to buy some snacks and sweets for the travel. Then he headed to inform Prof. Kumoto Hagashi. When he entered the lab, he saw Kumoto reading an old book, the one Cecilia brought.

"Good morning!" (Lance)

"Oh, Lance, what are you doing here?" - Kumoto looked at him, then Lance saw the dark circles under Kumoto's eyes.

"What happened? Heven't you been sleeping? You know that you need to rest and not overwork yourself!" (Lance)

"I know, but this is more important than sleep." he pointed at the book "I'm trying to figure some secrets from here. It's crucial to do so...yawn... because there might be some problems for humanity pretty ..." (Kumoto)

Lance put down the shopping bags he was holding and went next to Kumoto. He looked at the book's open pages. It was a different page than the one mentioning the Varions and the possibility for another 'Starfall' . It was a few pages after that. There was a mysterious drawing and a few numbers. The drawing looked like a circle with mysterious writings on its rim, inside were a few straight lines forming a star, in the middle was a big symbol. Below the drawing were the numbers 230,566,993,017and an ink spot from the moisture. It was unknown what was written after the numbers. At the sight of it Lance frowned a bit.

"You should stop for a bit and rest. As you might know, a person works better when he's rested and filled his stomach." - Lance said as he looked at Kumoto.

"I guess you're right. Yawn. I'll go to sleep now." (Kumoto)

He stood up from the chair, put a ruler to mark where the page was and put the book in a safe, integrated in the wall.

"What did you come here for?" - Kumoto asked Lance.

"I came to tell you that I'm going to Carlota for special training with my friends. I won't be here for quite some time."

"Oh, is that so? It was to be expected. After all you can use the 'Overdrive' . Let me warn you, you shouldn't get too proud and should help you friends and other people with everything you can, got it?" (Kumoto)

"Yes, I will help them!" (Lance)

After they parted ways, Lance got back to the dorm. It was 12 o'clock so he had a lot of time to pack and get ready.

=== At dock 5 ===

"Get on board ki~ds! Quickly, we're leaving soon!" (Chuo)

A man in military clothes was the one that was going to drive the boat. There were Melinda, Alisa, Kurama, Chuo, Mary, Petia and Blake waiting for Shin and Lance to get on board. The boat set off. The journey to the coast was long an uneventful. They reached there after three hours. After that they had to go on another ride with a car to reach Carlota, which was a few km from the coast. They reached without any problems and settled in. Alisa introduced them to the people working there and their new instructors. Shin and co were going to learn tactics from the strategic of the base - Selena, practical training and simple battle techniques from Chuo, finally they were going to observe Alisa and the other members of the Student counchil's battles on the battlefield. Soon night came and they went to their beds.

'I wonder what will happen tomorrow... I hope something interesting will happen.' - Shin thought.

=== Outside of Carlota ===

An armored truck came, it was all black. It was sent by Shiroyama. From within it three men came out. One of them was Clayton, he wore the same robe and mask as Irina and Xant, from under the robe one could see a faint electric green glow from his armor. He had equipped his ZON - the special weapon which only Varions can use. It requires the special wavelenght sequence they have for it to activate, that was the diference between it and WPO's ONE. The other two were the driver and the medic, responsible with keeping No.5 asleep untill the time comes.

"What shall we do now?" (medic)

"We'll wait untill morning comes. Prof. Shiroyama ordered to releasr him during the day, when all people are awake, to plant fear in their hearts." (Clayton)

"Got it. I'll go and check his condition again. If he wakes up, this truck won't be able to hold him." (medic)

Clayton sat on a rock nearby and looked at the city. Soon, the sun will rise and they'll release No.5 with a weapon. They even put a ZON armor on him. It wasn't a real ZON, only an experimental suit from the testing period. It couldn't 'grow' nor turn in a bracelet like their own, it was much more similar to an ordinary armor. Anyone could use it, as long as he had the same wavelenght sequence.

=== The morning ===

Shin, Lance and Mary were eating in the dining hall when Blake and Petia showed up. Today they were going to start their new training. As they were about to leave for the training room the alarm sounded.

[Attention! To all personel. ARDs have been detected! Repeat, ARDs have been detected!]

"What?! ARDs, why here all of a sudden?!" (Mary)

"I don't know, it just happened that way." (Petia)

Lance was looking at the city from the window near him. They were wondering what to do when Kurama came running.

"What are you spacing out for?! Come with me! We don't have time!"

They followed him to the base's control room. In there Alisa, Melinda and Chuo were recieveing the information about the ARDs from Selena.

"It's really bad this time! They're going to land just outside of the city. The worst is that they're landing in diferent places, also the ONE users from base Dogvana won't come in time to stop them from destroying the city. We will have you to fight those ARDs." - Selena told Alisa.

"There is no problem. We'll do our best. Hey, trainees, you're coming with us this time!" (Alisa)

"Wwe are?!" (Shin)

"Yes, we've sounded the alarm, your task is to protect the people untill they get in the shelters. Got it? You are not there to fight!" (Alisa)

""Yes!""

They activated their ONEs and boarded a car to drive them down to the city.

"Melinda, what do we have deal with this time?" (Kurama)

"I'll see." Melinda turned the scaner on and waited to see the results "It's nor good. There are five ARDs. Two level 8, one level 7, one level 5 and...one level 4. We'll have a really hard time dealing with them. There is also some mysterious signal but I can't pinpoint it."

"Be carefull! We might have company." (Alisa)

=== Outside of the city ===

"It's time! Unlock No. 5's capsule!" (Clayton)

The medic did what he was told. He inserted the key card and entered the code. As the capsule was opening some steam came out. No 5 was sleeping in there. No 5 was a boy around 15, he had good looking face, a shoulder-lenght spiky hair in a strange black and green stripes. They weren't from a hair dye, it was due to the experiments that were done on him, it was now his natural hair color. Although he looked weak and slender, he could blow a hole trough a brick wall with his bare hands easyly. He was wearing whole body armor with glowing green parts, his head and palmds weren't covered by it.

Clayton leaned a bit forward and lifted him. He brought the boy out of the truck's trailer and placed him face down on the ground, facing the city. He then took a halberd and placed it under the boy's hand.

"We're leaving!" (Clayton)

"Is it OK to leave him here sir? Won't he head towards another direction?" (driver)

"It's fine. He moves by instinct, so he'll head towards the place with the most people, the city." (Clayton)

The truck left quickly before the sedatives wore off. A few minutes after the five ARDs fell down.

 **BOOOOOOOOOOOOM! x5**

They landed on five diferent places around the city. The loud noise and slight tremmor of the ground woke No 5 up. His eyes shot open and you could see the cat-like, glowing green eyes. He grabbed the halbeard and quickly stood up. He looked around breathing heavyly, then his eyes, full with anger looked at the city in front of him.

"Grrrr..."

He then released an angry roar and ran towards the city with an amazing speed, compared to that of a car.

=== In the city ===

People were screaming, running as fast as they could towards the shelters. Those that were outside when the ARDs crashed shrieked in horror. They thought that they might die any moment now. Just then the roar of the ARDs was heard.

 **Bziiiiing...BOOOM!**

One of the ARDs was a canon type. It shot the top of a building. The people near the building screamed. Pieces of concrete, glass and metal started falling. The people ran for their lives. A woman was running with her baby but she tripped and fell. She braced herself and closed her eyes, hugging her baby but the rubble never hit her. She opened her eyes and looked up. Petia was standing next to her. Petia had lifted her hands up, using her ONE's power, she had created a barrier to protect the woman.

"Lance!" (Petia)

Lance ran towards her and jumped up, slicing all the rubble with the claws. Petia released the barier and helped the woman get up.

"Are you fine?" (Petia)

"Y-yes!" (woman)

"Then, quickly go in the shelter. We'll take things from here." (Petia)

The woman nodded and ran towards the shelter's entrance a few tens of metres in front of her. When all the people near entered and the door of the shelter closed, Petia sighed ir relief. Although she was shy, not very good at sports and hated violence, when she was doing something, she did it seriously. When she and the others arrived, Alisa and the other members of the Student counchil went to defeat the ARDs and left them with the task to help the citizens evacuate. Petia quickly made a plan to split in two. There were six shelters in the city, so they split in two groups, each group would go to three shelters and help the people get in them. Blake, Shin and mary were in the first team. They would take the shelters at the farthest end of the city, where it will be more dangerous. Petia and Lance would take the other three. This was Lance and Petia's second shelter. They only had to check one more and would then meet with Shin and the others at the city's centre.

"Hurry up Petia! We have to go!" (Lance)

"C-coming!" - Petia was panting a bit.

They reached the last third shelter. They asked the guards at the entrance if someone's missing.

"Well...there is that little boy over there. He says his big sister hasn't come and that something might have happened to her."

"Uaaah! Sister!" the kid ran and hugged Petia's leg. He looked up at her with his teary eyes and said "P-please...sniff...help my sis. She... she promised me to meet here but she hasn't come. Something must have happened to her!"

"Don't worry, we'll go and look for her, you just stay here." (Petia)

"O...Ok." (boy)

"Come on, let's look for your sister! Where was she when you last heard from her? How does she look like?" (Lance)

"She was heading here from her school. I have a picture of her."

The boy turned his phone on and showed then the picture. It was a girl in university with long, straight, brown hair and green eyes.

"In which direction is her school?" (Petia)

"There."

The boy pointed towards a street on the left side of the shelter.

"We're going! Wait for us, we'll find your sister!" (Lance)

He ran towards the direction with Petia following him. They looked around for her and finally found her. She was unconsciousness and one of her legs was caught under some rubble. Lance went there anc carefully lifted the rubble.

"Petia, pull her out!"

"OK."

Petia pulled her out and lance led the rubble again.

"We have to take her to the shelter quickly, before they lock the door!" (Lance)

He lifted her and was about to head to the shelter when sh stopped and turned around quickly. He was intencely looking towards a small dark alley in front of him.

"What's wrong Lance?" (Petia)

Lance shoved the girl in petia's hands. Petia was surprized and almost dropped her.

"Take her to the shelter! I'll buy you time. After you did it go to Blake and the others." (Lance)

"Wha-!" (Petia)

A quick slash ran towards them. Lance pulled Petia in order to not get hurt. The slash continued and cut directly trough te building behind them.

"Run quickly!" (Lance)

Petia opened her ONE's wings and flew towards the shelter. She knew that they wouldn't be able to save the boy's sister if they fought and that she didn't have a chance against the thing that attacked them, but neverthless she was worried about lance, so she looked back. She saw a strange and scary boy around lance's age in a strange armor with a halderd coming out from the alley. Shivvers san trough her spine when she noticed the boy's eyes. They looked very vicious and terryfying, like an angr beast's. Yes, that was No 5.

'After I get this girl to the shelter, I'll go and bring Shin and the others to help Lance as soon as possible! I hope that it isn't too late when we arrive.' - Petia thought.


	17. Chapter 17

Petia flew as quick as possible. Luckyly there were no ARDs nearby, so she didn't have any problems. As the doors of the shelter were closing she shouted.

"STOP! Wait for a minute! Don't close!"

The guards heard it and stopped. They looked towards her.

"It's that girl!" (guard 1)

Petia landed in front of them and handed them the girl she was carying.

"She needs to be treated as soon as possible. She was injured by some derbis." (Petia)

"OK. We've got it!" (guard 2)

"T-thank you for saving my sister!" (boy)

"You're welcome but I don't have time now. Close the door tight, I have to go!"

She then flew away. The guards did as they were told. Petia was flying as fast as she could towards the meeting spot. If Shin and the others weren't there, she was going to go and search for them. She had to help Lance.

 **BOOOOOOM!**

Something exploded behind her but she didn't dare to look back. As expected Shin, Mary and Blake weren't at the centre. She had to look for them. She headed towards the closest shelter to the centre. They weren't there, luckyly the shelter was closed and the people were safe. She headed towards the next, on the way there she spotted them. They were on their way towards the next shelter. She quickly flew over to them and landed.

"Petia!? What are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to be with Lance?" (Mary)

"Yeah, where is he?" (Shin)

"Hah,hah...We need help! Lance is fighting with some other boy with strange weapon and armor. We need to help him!" (Petia)

They followed Petia to the place where Lance was fighting. On the way there Blake asked Petia.

"Why is he fighting? Couldn't you have ran away?"

"We couldn't. There was an injured girl we had to take to the shelter. Lance gave it to me and told me to go. Before I knew it, the other boy suddenly attacked and..." (Petia)

"That's enough! Don't waste your breath! For now, we'll save lance, the explanation comes later!" (Mary)

=== Somewhere in the city ===

Alisa, Melinda, Kurama and Chuo were fighting with a level 5 ARD.

"Haaah!" (Kurama)

Kurama delivered the final blow to the ARD they were fighting.

"This one's also finished. Let's move to the last one, the level 4." (Alisa)

""YES!""

"I wonder what are those trainees doing right now?" (Chuo)

"We don't have time! Let's go and defeat that ARD!" (Kurama)

Kurama ran ahead of them, they followed after him. Alisa looked at Chuo.

"Why are you suddenly interested in them?" (Alisa)

"I don't know. It's just a feeling." (Chuo)

=== Back with Petia and co ===

They reached the place where Petia and Lance parted, it was a mess. There were deep cuts left in the asphalt and the buildings. The pavement was destroyed, there were few big craters and butrnt marks.

"Wwhat in the world happened here...?" - Mary whispered.

"Maybe he's somewhere else. Let's look for him!" (Shin)

They looked for him together in a formation. Who knew when that boy with the strange weapon would attack. They followed the traces of battle untill they heard a voice. It was Lance's voice. It was very quitet but they could still find from where it came. It came from the next corner. They ran towards it. When they turned left, the thing they saw relieved and shocked them at the same time. In front of them stood Lance, he wasn't seriously injured but still was badly bruised, they sighed in relief. The thing that shocked them was that Lance stood in front of that mysterious boy, which was badly injured and was holding the back of his bleeding neck, talking to him with his arm extended.

"I know the things that were done to you can't be erased but you should stop it. Hatred won't bring you anywhere, so come with me! I'll be your friend." - Lance said that and smiled warmly.

No 5 looked at Lance bewildered, deep inside his heart warmth he hadn't felt in years appeared. The ends of his mouth slightly rose and he took Lance's hand.

"My name is Lance. What's your name?"

"Z...ane?" (No 5)

After such a long time living like in a nightmare, right at that moment he had the time to realize something. He almost didn't remember anything. He looked down with a slightly worried expression.

"Well then, Zane, nice to meet you." (Lance)

"Lance!" (Mary)

She and the others ran towards him. Zane (No 5) rose up weakly and looked at them with hostility. They fliched and stopped moving for a bit.

"It's OK. Ther're my friends." (Lance)

"Lance, what happened?" (Shin)

"Oh, at first we fought quite seriously but then I realized that he was just a bit angry, so I befriended him. Zane, this are my friends Shin, Petia, Mary and Blake. There are others but they aren't here right now, try to be nice, OK?" (Lance)

"O...k" (Zane)

Shin, Petia, Mary and even Blake were bewildered. They thought the same thing.

'Lance really is strage. What's up with this situation?'

"I-is it really OK? I mean- he attacked us without a reason and all.." (Petia)

"Ah, it's fine we talked things out. Let's go and finish our job!" - Lance grabbed Zane's whole arm and dragged him off to somewhere.

"Lance, wait!" (Mary)

"What's it?" (Lance)

"We also finished our work. All citizens are safe." (Shin)

"Is that so..." - Lance's face became blank, he looked like an idiot.

A light suddenly flashed and Lance's ONE turned bak to a bracelet.

"I guess you used up all of the energy." (Blake)

"It looks like that...What should we do now? We have to find a safe place for you Lance." (Petia)

 **Screeee! BOOOOM!**

A loud explosion sounded from the other end of the city.

[Attention! All citizens listen! The ARDs have been defeated! Repeat, the ARDs have been defeated!]

"So miss Alisa and the others had defeated all of them? That's a relief, let's go to the city centre and meet with them!" (Shin)

"Wait! Before that we have to discuss something! What shall we do about him?" - Blake pointed at Zane.

Zane was covered in blood, wounds and his armor was tattered at a few places.

"Now that you mention it...Lance, didn't he have a halperd?" (Petia)

"Yes, he had."

"Then where is it?" (Blake)

Lance let go of Zane and ran inside the building on their left. After a while he returned with a broken halberd. Half of the handle was gone, the geen light no longer glowed and the blade was chipped at numerous places.

"This is all that's left from it. It flew into this building at some time." (Lance)

"...Wwell we better bring it to Alisa and the others, rright?" (Petia)

The others nodded slowly in agreement.

"Then, let's go!" - Lance took Zane's arm and led the way.

'What would miss Alisa and the others do when they see Zane?' - Shin thought.

"Shin, you hold on to the broken weapon in any case." - Mary tossed him the halberd, or what was left from it.

Shin caught it and held it in his left hand as they walked. Whithout any of them paying attention ar looking at it, for a brief moment the green light flashed on top of the halberd again and then disappeared.

=== Special! Zane's story! ===

A bit more than a year had passed afrer the ARDs appeared. Everything was in ruin but a hope appeared. People wielding ONEs had began to fight the ARDs. People hoped for them to come and save them as soon as possible, but here, in the ruins of Eugene, Oregon, a boy was crying on the street. Instead of being in the shelter or hiding somewhere, it was sitting on the pavement in the wide open. That boy was Zane. At that time he looked like an ordinary boy but his eyes were swollen from all the crying. A few days ago his parents were ripped to pieces by an ARD. Although they were supposed to be moved out of the shelter to a safer place but their truck was attacked. Because his father's ankle was sprained, he couldn't run so his mother tried to help him. They were too slow to get away. The other people left them in order to save their lives. Zane ran away and hid in the city. He fed on some caned food he found in an abandoned shop. In the end he fell into depression and gave up on life. That was why he was staying in the open. He then heard a sound, it was the sound of a car. He looked at the direction and saw a van in camouflage paint. The van stopped in front of him and from the back door a few men in military clothes came out. A woman's voice from the inside of the van ordered them.

"Tie him up and stuff something in his mouth so that he doesn't make a rucks."

They tied him up and threw him in. In the van he saw a woman in a lab coat with long blonde hair, black shirt, red skirt and a few piercinggs on her right ear. This was Prof. Shiroyama. Se took him by force and locked him up. He was then experimented on along with the other children. Unfortunately after the experiments were done, because of the ARD body fluids and other medications, along with the acumolated negative emotions from all the pain he became like a furious beast. Lost control and started attacking everyone. After they locked him in the cell, they conducted even more tests on him. His dark days continued like that. Untill fate took a big turn and brought a change. He was released, because he was no longer usefull to Shiroyama, in order to spread chaos and be killed but that didn't happen. He met with Lance, who brought light again to his frozen heart. Without even him knowing, Lance had clawed out the device Shiroyama had implanted on the back of his neck, along wiht the other Varions.


	18. Chapter 18

"Phew...that was exhausting!" (Kurama)

"Yes, it sure was. Who would have thought something like this would happen." (Chuo)

"Move, we have to meet with the trainees and then we'll split to help the citizens!" (Alisa)

They headed towards the meeting place. When they arrived Shin, Mary, Petia and Blake were waiting for them.

"Hi, ...so you were waiting here?" (Melinda)

"Yes, we've finished our tasks and came here not too long ago." (Shin)

"That's good...Where is Lance? I thought you were together?" (Alisa)

"Yes, we were but he went to have a private chat." (Shin)

"With who?" (Alisa)

"Lance! They're here! Are you two done talking?!" (Mary)

"Yes, we're comming!" - Lance shouted from the public changing room on their right side.

Lance came out and stood in front of the door. He wasn't equipped with his ONE because it still hadn't recovered it's energy, so he was with casual clothes, a T-shirt, sneakers and pants. He cleared his throat and spoke.

"I am verry sorry for the suddenness but I have to. This is Zane."

He pulled Zane out by his hand and placed him in front. Alisa, Melinda, Kurama and Chuo were dumbfounded at first but then they noticed the other things. They saw the tattered armor he was wearing, the strange hair and eyes, and most impotrantly the symbol on the armor. It was partally destroyed but they knew it was the same as the one those Varions had on their robes. They quickly pointed their weapons at him and got ready for battle. On the other hand, he stood there expressionless.

"I'm Zane. Naisu to meet you." - he said in monotone voice.

"You made a mistake again, you know?" (Lance)

"What's up with this?! Why is that Varion doing here?" (Kurama)

"Varion?" (Shin,Petia,Mary,Lance,Zane)

"It's not something we should talk about here. We'll explain after we finish the rest of the work." (Alisa)

"WAIT! Why are you acting like you're confused?! Aren't you a Varion too?!" - Kurama asked Zane.

"No, he doesn't know. In fact he can't remember almost anything. Maybe I hit him too hard that time..." (Lance)

Almost everyone made the same O_O expression. After a bit more quarreling Alisa agreed to take Zane with them as some sort of 'hostage' as long as he doesn't cause trouble and She'll keep Lance responsible if something happens.

"We'll go and help the people clean the rubble. You trainees are coming to help too. Lance, you'll do lighter work because your ONE hasn't recovered it's energy. You'll also keep an eye on Zane. Have him help you." (Alisa)

"Yes, I will!" (Lance)

After that they split again in order to do work faster. Lance took Zane to the place they were supposed to start work. There were still no people there.

"Well, now, shall we start cleaning this?" - Lance looked at Zane and smiled.

An hour passed before workers came to the place where Lance and Zane went. When they arrived they saw that all the rubble had been cleared and sorted at few piles. Lance was crying a few bricks and Zane a huge piece of the wall. The workers were amazed and thanked them a lot.

"Oh, it's only natural to help." - Lance told them.

He looked at Zane and saw his expression. You could see he was delighted. Lance smiled and asked.

"The feeling is good, isn't it? To be usefull, to be able to see the faces of people full of gratitute for wat you did, it's very pleasing."

Zane looked at him and lightly nodded. By the end of the day they were done. With the help of the workers and cityzens the rubble was quickly cleared. Alisa and the others met with Shin and his group after that they left for Carlota's base. When they reached there the guards were asking about Zane but were chased away by Alisa.

"I'll write the report about today. You go and have a rest. Lance, you go and find some clothes for Zane. Bring his armor to me later." (Alisa)

"OK. Le's go! Shin, Blake, will you come with us?" (Lance)

"No." (Blake)

"I can't right now...I'm tired..." (Shin)

"Fine. See ya later!" - Lance dragged Zane with him to his room.

"Mary, you told us about a broken halberd that Zane had. Give it to me, I'll keep it safe with me." (Alisa)

Mary gave her the broken halberd and then left with Shin and the other two to eat. Alisa, Chuo, Melinda and Kurama went to the command centre. Alisa went inside and made the other people leave. Kurama, Melinda and Chuo were guarding outside. Alisa put the halberd on a table and contacted Miki in Romen base.

"Hello, Alisa-chan! How've you been?" (Miki)

"Not very good. Today a few ARDs fell near the city." (Alisa)

"What?! So close to you? I bet you finished them quickly, am I right?" (Miki)

"That's not important right now. I request a boat to take us back to Romen in two days."

"Why? Did something happen with the kids?" (Miki)

"No, they're fine but I need to show you soomething. Something we have to talk about personally." - Alisa took the halberd and showed her to Miki.

"Alisa-chan...this is..." - Miki was bewildered.

"I also have some other things that go with it." (Alisa)

"Got it. I'll send the boat! Wait by the docks in two days." - Miki got serious.

"We'll be waiting." (Alisa)

She hung up and took the halberd with her. She went out and left with Kurama, Melinda and Chuo to discuss the plan for the return to Romen.

=== In Shiroyama's lab ===

"Professor! We lost No 5's implant stopped working, also the tracking device in the armor got destroyed." (scientist)

"That's fine. He probably got killed by those ONE users. Not like they'll get any information from his corpse and if the tracking device was destroyed, so has his equipment. They won't be getting anything useful. On the other hand we got some good information. We know that there is someone strong enough to kill No 5, while fully equipped, in less than ten minutes." (Shiroyama)

"If you say so." - the scientist left.

"HAhaha! This was unexpected! Those guys...they're better I thought! I guess I'll have to do some changes to the plan." (Shiroyama)

Outside of her lab's door stood a girl with light pink hair. She had stopped there a bit after the scientist entered. When he went out she hid for a moment but came again. She was Cala, No 7. She dadn't heard about the implants in their necks but heard about the tracking devices in the equipment. She was shocked and was clutching a silver star-shaped pendant. She quietly ran away and hid in her room. There, she weeped for quite a while.

'W...why? Why did he have to die?! Why Zane?! He...ha was so kind to me but...but I couldn't help him at all... I'm going to take revenge! I won't forgive the ones that killed him! And after I'm strong enough...I'll get Shiroyama for what she did!' - Cala thought.

=== While Zane was helping Lance clean rubble in Carlota ===

"aACHOO!" (Zane)

"What''s it Zane? Don't tell me someone is thinking of you, huh?" (Lance)

"?" (Zane)

"Come on! Don't you remember even something like this?! Kumoto told me that when someone sneezes loudly without a reason, someone thinks of them! Remember this!" (Lance)

Zane nodded for Yes.


	19. Chapter 19

Time quickly passed. It was time for them to leave for Romen again. Alisa entered the cafeteria and saw everyone eating. Melinda was talking with Chuo about something while Kurama was eating quietly, throwing a glance at Zane and Lance. Shin, Mary, Petia, Blake, Lance and Zane were sitting on a table close to the corner. They were happyly chatting. Lance put his hand on Zane's neck and pulled him closer to show him something. Alisa couldn't see what because their back were turned towards her. She got curious and deided to go closer. When she was a few metres away from them she heard Lance talking.

"No! That's wrong! He wants to rule everything and they are trying to stop him! He's the bad guy while they are the good and we are from the good guys, remember that!"

"Ok...I remember." (Zane)

She glanced at what they were looking and saw a phone. They were watching an anime.

'So...it was just that...haah.' (Alisa)

"Oh, miss Alisa! Good morning!" (Petia)

"Good morning. I told you calling me only Alisa is fine, too."

Lance and Zane turned around and greeted her along with the others. Afret they finished breakfast anisa called them.

"Prepare your luggage and bring it at the main entrance. We're leaving for the harbor in 30 min." (Alisa)

"Why so suddenly?" (Shin)

"As countermeasures. I'll explain after we go back to Romen. Lance, you are responsible for Zane! Make sure he doesn't disappear somewhere!" (Alisa)

"Yes!"

They quickly went to their rooms and gathered their things. They were ready and got on the car, that was going to take them to the harbor. It was a specially designed car, so they reached the harbor in less than 3 hours. The boat was already waiting for them. They boarded it without any delay and set off. After they reached Romen they went straight to Miki's lab.

"You're here! Come in quickly! Kumoto, close the door!" (Miki)

"OK. I'm going. Oh, hi Lance!" (Kumoto)

"Hi!"

Kumoto locked the doors and went back to his chair.

"So...this is the boy you were talking about?" - Miki pointed at Zane.

"Yes, that's him. He attacked Petia and Lance. He was wearing this armor and used this weapon." Alisa took them out of the case Chuo was carying and placed them on the table "The symbol on the armor is the same as the Varions's. I think he was brought there by Shiroyama. The question is why?"

"Probably to cause chaos but without moer investigation it's not sure. We will probably have to run some tests on him and his equipment." (Kumoto)

When Zane heard that he became anxious and started slowly to go backwards. Lance noticed that and asked.

"Are you going to use needles?"

"No. It's just some scans and other tests." (Kumoto)

"See? It's fine they won't stab you." - Lance turned and told Zane.

Zane calmed down and sat on a chair with relief.

'He was brandishing a halbeard and has superhuman strenght but is afraid of needles?!' (the others thought)

After that Miki explained everything to Shin, Mary, Blake, Lance and told them to keep it secret.

"There's another problem...where will Zane stay? There has to be someone to watch over him and make sure he doesn't go on a rampage but there isn't anyone like..." Alisa started but stopped and looked at Lance "Actually there is. Lance, Zane will stay together with you! It'll be your duty to watch over him! I'll arrange a new bed to be put in your room. We have to discuss some things here, so you should go back and have some rest."

"But..." (Mary)

"That's an order!" (Alisa)

"Yes..." Mary left unwillingly with the others.

"So... mind telling me how was Lance able to break all of Zane's armor and make him so submissive?" - Miki asked.

=== With Shin and the others ===

"I'm sooooo tired! I can't wait to go back and get some sleep." (Mary)

"We'll go to our rooms then." (Shin)

"See ya later!" (Blake)

They parted ways and headed for their rooms. Shin and Lance were followed by Zane quietly. They entered their room and Shin fell on his back on the bed.

"Haaah...I don't understand how you can be so calm, Lance, after what happened." (Shin)

"It's just that I've seen even stranger things, that's all. AH! It's almost time for the show! Zane take a chair and sit down, I'll take some snacks and am coming!" - lance told Zane and ran towards the kitchen. Zane sat down on a chair in front of the TV and stared at it with a blank expression.

'He looks just like a robot, not a living being, staring at the black screen like that...Also, Lance acts like it's nothing important that he defeated Zane and made him listen. I just... don't understand him sometimes, it's like he lives in a diferent world.' - Shin thought while glancing at the kitchen's door.

Lance kame out soon with hands full of snacks and drinks. He pulled a chair for himself and turned the TV on, handed a pack of chips to zane and a bottle of cola, the show started and they watched it with a lot of interest. It was one of the few times emotion showed on Zane's face. His eyes glimmered and he smiled lightly, sayinh "Wow.." from time to time. He usually was expressionless or had a confused look on his face. After some time watching them Shin turned around and started unpacking his stuff. Lance glanced sectertly at Shin with a look of both relief and worry.

'I can't let any of them know! If they knew the truth...' Lance turned back to the TV 'I don't want them to hate me. After all, they are the first true friends I ever had...'

===Time skip===

It was late at night. Zane was sleeping in Lance's bed while Lance was on the floor next to him, lightly snoring. Shin shivered slightly and slowly got up. He rubbed his eyes and got off the bed. He stretched a bit, his back made a light popping sound as he did so.

'Toilet...' (Shin)

After a while he got out of the toilet and got back to his bed. He layed down and covered himself with the still warm bedsheets. Shin looked at the ceiling for a while and brought his left hand in front of his face. He checked it up close then stretched it up and clenched his fist a few times.

'Hmmm...It has been getting stiff more and more often. Should I go to get it checked?...Nah, it's not a problem, so it should be fine.' - Shin thought and got back to sleep.

The truth was that for a few days now, from time to time, his hand became a bit stiff and was a little harder to move it but it passed away soon after. These days the times this had happened increased but he threw the thought og getting his hand checked away because he thought it was not important enough. For him training was more important now.


	20. Chapter 20

It was time for school. Shin, Lance and Zane came out of their dorm and headed for school. When they entered the classroom they saw everyone's attention was focused on them. The usual atmosphere was replaced by every student looking at Zane and Shin's friends. They were murmuring all sorts of things, like:

"Hey, aren't they the ones the Student counchil choose to take?"

"Already had their first mission...how envious."

"Who's the strange kid with green hair?"

"Don't know. His face is so expressionless."

"Waa. He's creepy, just like a robot."

"Even Machina, the android from the lab, has more emotions than him."

Zane turned slightly towards the noise but Lance got his hand and pulled him towards their seats.

"Don't pay them any attention. They'll only talk more." (Lance)

"O...k?" (Zane)

Zane was sitting at the most back, next to the window. Lance gave him his seat and sat in the middle row. Soon everyone came. Petia greeted them politely and Blake just said 'Yo!' . By 7:55 the other students of the class had thought of all sors of ideas about Zane. One even went as far as Zane being an undercover agent from HQ that was sent on a secret mission here.

The door opened and the students stood up, expecting to see the teacher. Zane was confused of the sudden change but did the same as the others. Melinda came inside and looked at Lance and his friends.

"I'm here to take Shin, Petia, Blake, Lance and Zane. Alisa wants to see you." (Melinda)

They stood up, took their stuff and followed Melinda quietly.

'For what reason does she call us?' - they all thought. (except Zane)

Melinda brought them to a special area of the ship where normal students weren't allowed to go. They went trough a large metal door and saw a training area. It was a bit smaller than the arena they usually trained in, the diference was that there were no spectator seats. Alisa was waiting for them. In another room sat Miki, Machina and Kumoto were observing them on a huge monitor.

"What do you think will happen?" (Miki)

"I-I don't know. From what I've heard, the boy named Zane is quite dangerous, isn't he?" (Machina)

"Don't worry. Lance has him under control, but I'm also curious what'll happen. After all you pulled an all-nighter to prepare him a ONE he can use, why's that?" (Kumoto looked at Miki)

"Nothing special. I'm just interested, that's all." (Miki)

'Hmmm...It's unusual for her to do something like that. Meh! I'll leave it be! I'll get answers sooner or later.' (Kumoto)

He looked at Miki, she had her lab coat on but unlike other times her long hair was tied in a loose ponytail, clearly showing the dark circles around her eyes because she stayed up all night. Kumoto returned his attention to the screen again. Alisa had already started telling the group what they'll be doing.

=== On the training area ===

"Because our last training plans were ruined we'll start your training officially from today. This is the private training area for the Student counchil and the Top 10. Some of the ARD interception teams also come here to train but that happens rarely, so we made an exception and allowed you five to train here with us as your teachers." - Alisa looked at the group and gestured for someone to come in.

Chuo, Kurama and one other guy came from another steel door that opened. Blake, Petia, Shin, Lance and Zane looked at them. Chuo stepped towards them in a lazy manner.

"You might already know me but I'll introduce myself again. You can call me Chuo, I'm a C rank, foot soldier and I specialize in katanas. I don't like doing troublesome things, so I don't want any problems, OK?"

""Yes!"" (Blake, Petia, Shin, Lance)

"I'm Kurama. I'm a B rank, foot and navy soldier. I specialize in spears and pistols. I don't like you, so don't ger on my nerves!"

Blake almost snapped at him but Sin and Petia held him back. The last man started his introduction. He had short, light blonde hair with purple tips. He had a few colorful beads tied in his hair. His eyes were vibrant green, his face was quite normal, a bit to the handsome side, and had a little star tatoo under his left eye's corner. He looked aroud his late 20s to early 30s. He smiled brightly and greeted.

"OHAYOU! I'm Alister Bradley Padington but everybody calls me Jugo! If uou call me Alister, I'll make your life hell and then kill you, I'm **SERIOUS**. I'm from Britain and I'm a HUUUUUUJE anime and manga fan! I also like novels, sweerts, videogames and other such stuffs! I'm a close combat specialist of the amazing A rank! Although I'm the weakest among them :-( ...Anyways, it's nice to meet you kiddos!"

Almost everyone sweatdropped because of his introduction and sudden moodswings.

"Let's start, we don't want to waste any more time." - Alisa went to Zane and gave him a ONE bracelet in bright green color.

"Prof. Miki made this specially for you." Zane stared at the bracelet in his hand, not knowing what ot do "You put it on rour hand." - Alisa was getting furstrated and left the training area.

Blake, Shin, Petia, Zane and Lance were left there with Chuo, Kurama, Melinga and Jugo.

"Wwell then... Petia, you're training with me because I'm also with a non-combat type ONE. Blake is with Kurama, Shin is with Chuo, Zane and Lance are with Jugo. Let's start." - Melinda said and led Petia with her to the other end of the area. She pressed a few buttons and a door opened while a huge, holographic clock appeared close to the cieling.

"We can train untill the time is up. Ater that we'll leave." (Kurama)

They split and went in three corners. Jugo got more space because he had two people to train.

=== With Blake and Kurama ===

"I don't like wasting time, so we'll start fighting right now. When I say stop we stop. I want you to see where you make mistakes and make sure those mistakes disappear. Anything to say before we start?" (Kurama)

"Yes. I don't like your 'Better than anyone' atitute! It realy pisses me off! You shoud stop it!" (Blake)

Kurama activated his ONE, a 'Capricorn' type, one of the special types of ONE that appear very rarely. It's extremely fast on water and is good in mid and long range attacks. It doesn't have the long shooting range of other ONEs but the shots had qute the impact.

"I don't listen to wak people. I'll consider what you said once you beat me. That's if you CAN beat me." - Kurama pointed his spear at Blake. His spear had a bluish hue to it and longer than the standard speartip.

" I expected you to say that." - Blake said and activated his 'Snake' .

The moment they were finished they lunged at eachother. They clashed agressively. Slashing, stabbing, dodging, countering each other's spears and shooting from time to time. They started a dance of steel and sparks that wouldn't stop any time soon.

=== Shin and Chuo ===

"OK. Now, kid, show me what you can do." (Chuo)

Shin activated his ONE and Chuo drew his blade, that was straped on his left.

"Aren't you going to activate your ONE?" (Shin)

"No, for now this is enough. This is a special blade made for me. It can also slay ARDs, in other words, it's a ONE in katana form instead of bracelet. Get ready, I'm comin'." (Chuo)

He dashed with amazing speed at Shin. Shin barely managed to block with his blades. The force was so strong that Shin was pushed five steps back. Chuo made a step backwards, his sword ready, and looked at Shin with now serious look.

"First lesson- Don't take any opponent lightly! I might be a C rank but actualy I'm on par with a regular captain. I'm a normal soldier and C rank only because it would be too troublesome to go up the ranks and lead an army." (Chuo)

Shin was both shocked and inspired by what he said but Chuo was not over.

"Second lesson - Don't overwork yourself and overthink things! It's usualy the simpler plans that work better because they're more flexible."

Chuo stepped forward and launched himself at Shin. Shin barely had time to react. Chuo did a horizontal slash at Shin's right, aiming at the stomach area with the back of the blade, Shin used the blade in his right hand to block the attack. He managed to block it again but the force of the impact sent him rolling on the ground. His right had was shakig a bit from the impact. Shin looked at Chuo, who was standing where Shin used to be, with even more respect and admiration in his eyes. Chuo noticed that and was delighter but he didn't show it on his face.

"Third lesson - Be prepared for anything! There's no telling what might happen on the battlefield, there are always sneak and surprise attacks, so you have to be prepared for them and use them if you face a stronger oponent. Take your friend Lance for instance, he threw rocks and dirt at Luxen! No one would have thought of that but he did and worked, he gained time to attack. Fourth lesson - Listen to your superiors and follow the plan! It can save your life." - Chuo sheathed his sword.

He walked to where Shin was and helped him get up. Shin stood up and looked Chuo straight in the eyes as he did the same.

"Fifth lesson - Cherish your friends and teammates! They can always help you, keep you away from harm and even save your life, so don't leave anyone behind! Unless you are 100% sure they are dead, you have to help them as long as there is a chance to save their lives. Even if this chance is 1% you have to, got it?"

"Yes!" - Shin saluted.

"Last Fifth lesson - Do what you think is right to do! Even if it's against orders, you have your own will and are free to decide what to do."

"But isn't this rule the opposite of lesson Four?" (Shin)

"Yes, it is but you shouldn't loose yourself and become like a robot. Let's say there's a small child being chased by an ARD and only you are around and can help the child but they told you to go somewhere as fast as possible, what would you do?" - Chuo looked at Shin.

'This question is the most important. Don't disappoint me, boy.' - Chuo thought as he waited.

Shin thought for a bit and then answered.

"I would kill the ARD, take the child and bring it to a safe place then I would rush as fast as possible to where I was told to go."

"Good, but if you get scolded because of that?" (Chuo)

"They didn't tell me an hour I should be there, they sair 'as fast as you can' and I did just that. Do I pass teacher Chuo?" (Shin)

"Just Chuo is fine and yes, you pass."

"YES! Plese, teach me everything I need to know." Shin did a dogeza in front of Chuo, which shocked him a bit." I want to be useful to my friends and other people, to be able to help then in time of need. I want to be able to protect myself too, I don't want to be helpless and wait for death! I want to be as strong as you. NO! I want to be even stronger!"

"Stand up, boy!" (Chuo)

Shin stood up and looked at Chuo. A warm smile was on Chuo's face, a smile that he hadn't shown for a long time. he placed a hand on Shin'd shoulder.

"I will teach you whatever I can! It will be hard, painful and almost impossible to bear at some times. Do you think you can do it and surpass me?" - Chuo asked with enthusiasm unseen for a long time.

"Yes! No matter what I'll never give up." (Shin)

"Good, for now deactivate your ONE, we'll start physicat exercises to strenghten your body and improve your reflexes. Our goal is for you to be able to use the Overdrive again, just like you did during the Midterm battle." Chuo said and led Shin closer to the wall.

"Excuse me but..." (Shin)

"What is it?" (Chuo)

"You said I used the Overdrive but i don't remember anything after blacking out after I was beaten up." (Shin)

"What?! You don't remember!?" (Chuo)

"Yes, can you tell me what exactly happened?" (Shin)

"OK, I'll tell you but firstly, do a handstand while using the wall as support" Shin did it" now stay like that while I explain you, OK?" - Chuo instucted.

"No problem!" - Shin smiled as he looked at Chuo.

After that Chuo explained in great detail what had happened during the Midterms and also told shin what he lacks, what mistakes he made during their short clash and what he meeds to improve. Shin listened and tried to remember everything.

=== Petia and Melinda ===

After the door opened Melinda led Petia down a hall to a simulation room.

"We'll train here because it's a bit dangerous when having no protection. Now, let's activate our ONEs." (Melinda)

Petia activated her 'Fairy' and Melinda her 'Siren' . A 'Siren' was a type that was perfect for water battles, it was fast, agile and dive to escape from air attlacks. It was a non-combat type with a bit weaker defence than others but compensated with it's support abilities. It could confuse the enemies, jam their detection, cause pain, desorientation and could attract ARDs by using soundwaves. It could also be used to nullify the effects that ARDs with similar abilities caused.

Melinda pressed a few buttons on the control panel on the wall to their right. The room quickly changed to a battlefield in the desert. There were ARDs and people fighting them, there were even injured people lying around. it was so realistic it was almost impossible to be a simulation.

"Now, the simulator can detect what you do and give you points for it. You have to heal the injured, protect soldiers from harm and give support. Got that? OK, let's start!" (Melinda)

'She didn't even give me time to answer!' (Petia)

Their training began, although Melinda was in a disadvatage in the desert because 'Siren' is for water battles, but she did great job. Petia on the other hand struggled quite a lot. After 30 min. the simulation stopped. Melinda had a bit of sweat on her head but was fine. On the other hand Petia collapsed and was panting heavily. The computer calculated the points. It gave Melinda 486 points and Petia got 97 points.

"Very good! A bit more and you would have gotten in the hundreds." Petia couldn't talk but her eyes told that she was disappointed with the result.

"You don't need to be disappointed. Getting this much on your first try is fenomenal! It's on par with a D rank soldier. Although not of the strong ones but still a D rank! With a bit more training you'll reach me in no time, we'll be coming here almost every day, except the weekends and holidays, after all." (Melinda)

Melinda smiled and let Petia have some rest.

=== Lance, Zane and Jugo ===

'Hehehe :-) ... Looks like Chu and Ku have started. Now, lets see what those two can do. Ali-chin (Alisa) told me they're quite special, I can't wait!' - Jugo thought while smiling and humming.

He looked at Lance and Zane and wanted to faceplant to the floor. Lance was scolding Zane who was trying to eat the bracelet Alisa gave him. Lance managed to take the ONE out of Zane's mouth.

"NO! This is bad! ONEs are not for eating. If you try to eat it or any other, there won't be any dinner! Got it?" (Lance)

Zane shook his head for Yes. "Ook...won't eat."

"Humm! Very good! You even talk more, that's even better than before." Lance pats Zane's head "When we get back, I'll give you a choco stick, so be good and put this on." (Lance)

Lance gave Zane's ONE back to him and helped him to put it on. Jugo was watching them with expressionless face.

'Are they serious?! I think I got my expectations too high. They're only firs years right now...' (Jugo)

"Hey~ Zane,right? Do you know how to activate your ONE?" (Jugo)

Zane was a bit confused.

"Come on, Zane! It's not hard, it's like the sparky-glowy slash! You know, like fswoosh!" (Lance)

Zane's eyes lit up in realization, he had such a look on his face that you could say 'He discovered a new continent!' . Jugo for the first time in years had no idea what to do. Zane then lifted his hands and made a pose similar to one you would see in Power Rangers episode when they activate their powers. His ONE lit up in green light and a second later it disappeared. Zane was in a gray and red armor with green lines running along the curves. He had a bit bigger halberd with long and sturdy blade with razor sharp edge. It had green lines running on the handle and blade that looked like roots or veins, they look the same on diagrams either way.

'This is surprising, to think such a frail looking boy would be a heavy weapon wielder, his armor looks super though too. Now the other one! C'mon, surprize me!' (Jugo)

Lance had activated his 'Cat' while Jugo was looking at Zane.

"What shall we do now?" (Lance)

"Well well...Hmmm...Can't think of nything right now...! I've GOT IT! You two! Spar with each other while I watch!" (Jugo)

"OK. Zane, come! We're doing a lardark majz!" (Lance)

Zane followed Lance as he went further away from Jugo.

'Good thinking if I can say so myself.^.^ Now I can see what they're capable of and entertain myself!' - Jugo hadn't heard anything from what Lance said. He was brought back to the real world when Lance shouted.

"We're starting mister Jugo!"

He turned towards them and watched what they'll do next.

"You ready, Zane?" (Lance)

Zane nodded and leaned a bit forward, holding his halberd with both hands. Lance prepared himself for the attack. Zane's muscles tensed and in one explosive jump, he shot straight at Lance. If a normal peron had seen this, it would have looked like Zane blurred, disappeared and then appeared in front of Lance. Jugo, however is not ordinary person. He saw everything clearly and got goosebums. He knew this was Zane's first time using a ONE but his speed alone was that of a mid to high A rank.

'This kid is a monster!' (Jugo)


	21. Chapter 21

In an instant Lance's claws and Zane's halberd clashed. The sound produced was so loud it startled everyone, a small cloud of dust was lifted in the air.

Blake got startled and looked towards the place Lance and Zane were. Kurama took the chance and slammed Blake in the floor, creating a small dent in it. Blake looked at Kurama with a startled look.

"Don't ever get distracted in a fight! It'll be your end!" - Kurama said as he was scowling down at Blake.

Blake grunted in pain and annoyance as his ONE deactivated. After that however, he and Kurama also looked at Lance and Zane along with Chuo, Shin and the others in te observation room.

Lance had grabbed Zane's halberd by the blade with his claws. He was pushed a few centimetres back by Zane but he successfully blacked the attack. Lance flicked the halberd up with his hand while giving a punch to Zane's stomach. Zane was surprized and was a bit slow to react, nevertheless he twisted his body a bit when the punch hit him. Zane was pushed back and rolled a bit on the ground, although he was punched and sent to the ground a lot of the punch's force was evaded, otherwise Zane would have been severely hurt. Zane quickly stood back on his feet, a bit crouched with the halberd in his left hand. Lance took a stance, his right leg a bit to the front, slightly bent knees, right hand pulled back and ready for a punch, left hand stretched forward with palm open to counter any incoming attack. Zane jumped, proppeling himself like a bullet towards Lance, and slashed at him. Lance used his palm to push the blade aside and punched Zane in the face. He flew and hit the wall, leaving his halberd behind. He crashed and got stuck in the wall, making a small crater. Jugo and everyone looked in awe.

=== Control room ===

"WOW! How is this possible?! The output and strenght are all way above the charts for a 'Cat' type! He hasn't even activated the Overdrive." (Miki)

"I've told you, haven't I? Lance is one of a kind and can always surprize you. Machina, what do you think?" (Kumoto)

"M-me?!" Machina was surprised. She had entered a bit earlier and was currently setting some drinks for refreshment. "I don't know much about Lance, only from the data there is in the computers here, but to tell you he's a professional won't be a mistake. His reaction time is minimal, can predict his oponent's moves quite well. He's like a seasoned warrior."

Both Kumoto and Miki nodded their heads in understandment.

'I wonder, just where exactly had found this raw talent. Where did Lance came from?' (Miki)

=== Back to the arena ===

Zane looked at Lance. He was surprized and a bit shocked. His eyes were wide open and he blinked a few times.

"Are you OK?!" Jugo asked Zane "Is something broken?"

"Ah...no, I'm fine." Zane slowly slid out of the wall and straightened his back.

"Well, Zane, what is the feeling? Do you need more time to get used to your ONE? Want some more?" Lance asked entusiastically making everyone sweatdrop.

"Good,... better than old. Yes, I need." (Zane)

"OK! Come at me!" Lance got in battle ready stance.

"Wait! Stop right here~! That was good, real good! Buuuut, I think there were enough punches in the face for now, so we're stopping for now~." Jugo butted in with a bright smile.

"OK!" (Zane & Lance)

Lance relaxed and smiled at Zane. Zane was still a bit confused and watched his hand.

'Oooh...it seems he's got something.' (Lance thought)

"What is it? You look at your arm like it's some amazing thing or somethin' ." Lance joked a bit with Zane.

"Yes." Zane answered and looked at his halberd 5-6 metres away from him. He extended his right arm towards it and opened his palm. The halberd shook for a moment when it suddenly flew spinning towards Zane. He clasped the halberd's handle and put it down.

"Whoa!/ Wow!/ Impressive./ That was amazing and sooo cool!" all sorts of reactions were heard from the arena. Lance even clapped and whistled.

'What...the...hell?! I didn't put a function like that! This is truly interesting. You never cease to impress me Zane.' (Miki)

After a while the others returned to their places. Blake and Kurama's fight continued, Shin and Chuo continued phisical and reaction training while Jugo showed Zane and Lance a few useful moves and tricks that can help in real life battles. They continued training for 2 more hours when a bell rang, it was time for rest and lunch.

"OK! That's enough for today kiddos! Go and eat something, then have a good rest. We'll continue tomorrow!" (Jugo)

Melinda had led Petia out of the simulator room a few seconds ago.

"But I still haven't finished my battle with Kurama!" (Blake)

"Hehehe..." Jugo's aura became dark "You either rest now or I'll make you unable to leave your room for the next 3 months~." Jugo said with a fake, scary smile "You can always continue tomorrow, **CAN'T** you?!"

"Yyes sir! I'll continue tomorrow!" for the first time in year Blake was scared.

"It's good then! Buye-buye~ see ya tomorrow!" Jugo baemed and waved at them as he jogged out of the arena.

"You should be more careful. If Jugo gets realy mad, he becomes a demon. A lot of people are afraid of him because of that and stay away, especially after the incident..." as Kurama finished, he and Chuo shivvered.

They deactivated their ONEs and also left the arena. Blake, Petia, Zane, Lance and Shin walked towards the cafeteria. After 10 minutes they reached it and entered. The moment the doors opened, all eyes were on them, mostly Zane to be exact. The other students staed at them and started to murmur. They were talking mostly about Zane and how they were called by the Student Counchil's president, Alisa.

Petia was a bit flustered but quickly composed herself. Blake didn't care. Shin had ignored them. Lance had not even noticed them as he dragged Zane towards the counter. After they all have ordered food, they sat on an emty table, ate and talked to each other about diferent things. At some time, surprisingly someone came to their table. Yuuto from their class came.

"Hi there! Can I sit here?" (Yuuto)

"Yes, you can." (Shin)

"Thanks a lot! All other tables were stuffed with students. It wouldn't have been good to be squashed while eatind." (Yuuto)

After that they started talking with Yuuto, too. It turned out he was nice if you excluded some things like his womanizing personality.

=== At an unknown location ===

 **BOOOOOOM! BAAM! CRACK!**

For a few hours now these sounds have been heard from the west mountainside. There were a lot of smoking craters, broken trees and crushed rocks. There, on a pile of rubble and broken training dummies stood a girl in armor. Her pink hair was a bit dirty and messy. She held a short dagger, glowing brightly in neon green. She was breathing heavily. Cala had been training like that for 3 weeks now. At the back, under a tree you could see a boy, he was Sam, Cala's partner. He wore beige jeans, baggy shirt, red cap and sneakers. He had black hair and broun eyes, also a mole under his right eye.

'Sheesh, a woman's anger realy is comparable with hell itself.' he thought and stood up.

"Cala, that's enough for today! Take a rest!" (Sam)

"N-no. I still can't. I, I have to be the strongest! To take revenge for Zane!" she snarled after recovering a bit.

Sam shook his head and walked towards her. He jumped behind her with ease. He then quickly pressed her neck. She tried to struggle, but before she could think about moving, her legs and arms lost their strenght. She flopped on her knees as Sam caught her. She glared at him.

"Look, I don't know how you feel but you're my partner and you have to rest, otherwise your health will get bad." (Sam)

"Oooh...I didn't know you care for someone else but yourself." (Cala)

"Hey, if ya die, Shiroyama will give me hell about it. After all we're her 'Pressious' Varions." (Sam)

"Ha...ha." Cala weakly laughed as she fainted.

Sam carried her inside. As he was walking towards her room he thought about some things.

'If I remember, Zane was No 5's name before he turned beserk monster. What had happened while we were gone to make her so angry. Even if I ask she won't tell me. After all the closest person to her during the experiments was he. They would always stay hidden in one of the corners, talking about stuff.' Sam ten noticed the necklace dangling on Cala's neck.

=== Flashback! (1st official) ===

Yet another experiment had ended today. The kids were half led, half dragged to their room. It was a giant room with no windows, no air vents or other possible ways to escape. There were numerous hidden cameras around the room. As you enter, you could see ten beds, a small carpet in the middle, a few plastic balls, a separate bathroom and a huge glass, taking almost taking up the whole left wall. (Like in those interogation rooms, there were people on the other side 24/7.) They were pushed/thrown inside rudely by the guards. Out of the 10 beds only 7 were now used. Sam grunted as he hated this treatment, this place as a whole. It was way worse than living on the streets.

'Why the HELL had I agreed to come!?' (Sam)

The three missing kids died during the experiments. He still remembered their screams vividly. He stood up and winced a bit in pain. He slowly reached his bed and laid on his back. He was thinking about today. While they still were being taken out of their capsules by the medics and being dressed, he faintly heard a scientist talking with Shiroyama.

"How's the experiment going?" (Shiroyama)

"Verry well. We've just finished all the preparation procedures. They'll be ready for the final step in 2 days." (scientist)

This wasn't good.

'Something big will happen in 2 days.' (Sam)

He looked to his right and saw two kids sitting next to eachother in the corner. Those were Zane and Cala. They always did that after the experiments were over. This time, however, something different happened. Zane gave Cala something and she hugged him.

2 days passed quickly. Everyone was getting nervous as they have never had so muc break between experiments. Cala was squeezing the necklace's ornament in her hand with all her might. She looked like she was praying. Then the guards burst into the room.

"Move it! You know the procedure!" (guard1)

When they reached the lab there were some differences. The capsules each had big containers with strange liquids in them, also inside the capsules were put restrains from a special metal. Usualy the restrains were leather but these new ones were metal, this brought even more fear in their hearts.

'Definetely not good.' (Sam)

When they were inside, tightly secured, the capsule slowly filled with liquid. A needle then injected Sam with some sedative. He fell asleep while thinking. 'Strange...they had never used sedatives.'

He was suddenly awoken by hellish, burning pain all over his body, both out and inside. He screamed inside the oxygen mask, making bubbles in the liquid, he thrashed but the metal restrains had him stuck. For him it felt like eternity when the pain slowly stopped. He was so relieved he fell back to sleep.

When he woke up, he found there were only five of them left. The other kid, Mike had died and Zane had become crazy. He was glad he was alive, although there were many changes to his and everyone's body he still was glad. Cala was crying nonstop and there was no Zane to comfort her anymore. He slowly went to her and relucantly patted her. No one said a word for the day.

=== End of flashback ===

Sam had reached Cala's room. He entered, placed her on the bed and covered her with a blanket. He then went out.

'She hadprobably heard something bad happened to Zane. Probably overheard some of Shiroyama's talk. There's no need to rush. Sooner or later I'll learn about it.' (Sam)

=== Night at Romen ===

It was already past midnight. Everyone but the night shift personel was asleep. In Shin, Zane and Lance's room was quiet, a bit too quiet. Lance's mumbling could not be heard, he wasn't his bed. Shin was breathing a bit roughly as he subconciously turned to the side and squeezed his constantly twitching left hand. He was sweating, his covers were on the floor. If you looked carefully enough you could see his feet also lightly twitching as his body, almost unnoticaby, shook.

On the third bed Zane was not having a good night either. He was trashing around, spinning constantly in his bed, his arms and legs trashing around.

\- Zane's dream -

There were many explosions and screams all around him. He was running and running. He briefly looked back and saw two pitch black human figures, one was holding the other when suddenly they shattered, dyeing the world bloody red. He fell backwards into a black and white abyss. He was falling for quite a while when he finally fell into some liquid. It quickly enveloped him and hardened. He was stuck, immobile. The world started flashing. There were the black figures of children, some smaller, some bigger, they were standing in a circle, **HE** was also part of it. Suddenly one figure screamed, it became twisted, disorted and then it disappeared into nothingness. The same repeated untill there were only six left, he included. Seeing the emty spaces in the once full circle hurt his heart for some reason, he wanted to fight but couldn't move a muscle. It then hit him, strong, hellish pain shot trough his whole body. multiple sharp hooks pierced his skin and started pulling him away. The figures stood motionless and watched him with hollow white eyes. Only one tried to help him, it had long hair and a dress. It struggled as it streched its hands toward him while running but it fell on the floor. He was starting to lose the sight of it. The figure stood on its knees and looked at him with big blue eyes, tears rolling down its cheeks like small rivers. On its neck hung a silver, star-shaped necklace that looked strangely familiar to him.

'Where...have I...' (Zane)

The world turned bleak and cold. The pain was no more than a discomfort now, compared to the cold. He could finaly move a bit but the hooks embedded in him were keeping him there with no sign of releasing him any time sooner.

 **CRACK!**

Cracks started to appear on the black sky above him. They rapidly spread and the darkness shattered. The hooks fell off, turning into dust. The brightness blinded him for a while but when he looked in front a bright, sky blue was revealed to him. A hand was stretched towards him, open waiting to be taken. He hesitates for a bit but then takes it. The hand pulls him towards the blue. He closed his eyes. Zane felt calm, secure and happy but suddenly a stron sence of dread, terror and emtiness was transmitted to him trough the hand.

=== End of dream ===

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" (Zane)

The sceam was so loud it woke almost everyone in the dorm. Shin bolted up from his bed, competely forgetting about his trembling and twitching while sleeping. Truth be told, it was the third time Shin was doing this while sleeping, he just forgot about it after waking up, no trace of anything ever happening as even the sweat disappeared.

"What's happening?!" Shin saw Zane shaking and scared "Zane! What happened? Are you fine? Do yuo need something?"

From the now lit kitchen came Lance, his hands were wet, dripping water. He got next to the bed and sat next to Zane.

"Don't worry. It'll be fine." Lance patted and calmed Zane down. "See? It's better." Lance smiled.

On the door one of the dorm's guards knocked.

"Is anyone there?!" (guard)

Shin went and opened the door.

"Yes, it is. My friend just had a realy bad nightmare." Shin opened the door wider and pointed at Zane.

"I see. There are no problems then. If something, however, happens call us and we'll come. Good night." the guard said and left.

'What could have he dreamed about to scream like that? He didn't even flinch then being embedded in the wall. What made him make such a loud noise?' (Shin)

After Zane calmed down they all went back to sleep.


	22. Chapter 22

Shin was feeling better and better. These days he was full with energy and was very cheerful. Although Chuo's training was hard, painful and tireing, to the point where he collapsed right after finishing it, he was happy. He was making a big progress, everyone could see it.

'I would soon be strong enough to face strong ARDs on my own. But... why can't I use the Overdrive? Although I can't remember what happened that time, everyone told me how I also used the Overdrive. What am I missing?' Shin thought while walking down the street.

Clases have ended long ago. He had written his homework and was now strolling the streets of the floating city. Romen was beautiful indeed. Gorgeous buildings, gardens, shops and street stands.

'Just like the past.'

=== Flashback ===

Shin was walking with his mother around the city. He was walking a few steps in front of her and pestering her to hurry up. The city he lived in before the Starfall looked a lot like Romen. A qiet place, not too big, nor too small, beautiful parks and gardens and a lot of nice people. It was perfect untill that fateful day it was lost.

After humans reclaimed the ruined city and rebuilded it, it didn't feel the same as before. Although not seen, there was always unease in everyone's hearts ever since.

=== End ===

"...be stopping in a few weeks. The ship needs maintence and checkups from time to time after all."

Shin snapped back to reality. He turned his head left and right trying to find the person who talked just now. Without noticing he had walked into an alley. Around 10 metres in front of him was a person, a man in his 40s talking to his two friends. It was someone Shin recognized. The man worked on the ship as part of the maintence team. Shin didn't know how he was called but remembered his face. Shin had seen the man a few times in the hallways while going to train with Chuo.

Shin wondered for a moment how could he clearly hear him talking from that far away but quickly dismissed the thought as he hurried towards the older man.

"Excuse me." (Shin)

The man and his friends were startled for a second.

"Yes, do you want something?" (man)

"I accidentally overheard what you just said. Is it true the ship's stopping for checkup?"

"Yes. If fact a few weeks from now we'll reach WPO's main base in USA. After that the ship will undergo a maintence and would be docked for a few days or a month, depending on how much work is needed."

"Thank you verry much for telling me. Sorry to disturb you. Have a nice day." Shin bid farwell to the group and left for the dorms. He dad decided to tell his friends about it.

=== Shiroyama's secret base (No.3) ===

"So they are goring to have a maintence?" (Shiroyama)

"Yes, and not only they, from what our spies told us, three ships are going to arrive at port Hedricks, USA. Veelan battleship on 22nd, Romen on 25th and Shanya on the 29th." (minion)

Shiroyama smirked like the evil crazy scientist she was, thinking about her evil plan. It was perfect and no one could be prepared for what she had planned.

"Call every Varion except number 10, his mission is the top priority right now!"

"Yes! I'm on to it!"

"Hehehe...Those pesky ONE users will recieve a BIG surprize soon!"

===Back to Romen===

"Harbor Ahoy!" - Lance shouted, imitating a sailor.

And true to his word, the others saw port Hedricks after a few minutes.

"He shure has an amazing sight! I can barely make out where it is!" (Petia)

"Yeah, I managed to see it just now." (Shin)

"Psh. Big deal!" - Blake said grumpyly.

"...Un." (Zane)

"What's up with you Blake? You're very grumpy today." (Shin)

"Yyeah! You should be happy! We're docking today and won't have any school or duties for around a week untill they check the ship and fix everything that's been damaged." (Petia)

"Yes, I've been away from the USA for quite some time now! I wonder what new comics they've released." (Lance)

"Corndog, taco..." - Zane answered cryptically.

"I just don't know! I've always had THIS strange sense! I would feel uncomfortable all day and then...BOOM! Something bad happens! I've had it ever since this morning. I just know something BAD will happen after we dock." - Blake said and rubbed his neck.

"Don't worry! Like Nyankichi said 'As long as we have eachother, everything is possible, nya!' . So, we'll somehow deal with the problem. We won't be able to stop the ship but we could at least warn the Student counchil. Let's go!"

Lance lead them to the president's office. They knocked politely and entered.

"Yes, what can I help you with?" - Melinda, the only person there asked.

"Where's the president?" (Shin)

"She, Kurama and Chuo were asked to visit prof. Kumoto. I decided to stay if someone comes."

"OK. Then, Blake, can you explain to her?" (Lance)

Blake stepped forward and started to explain about his 'Disaster sense'. How when he was 7 he got it for first time and his family almost got sent to the hospital because of a chain car collision on the highway. How he got it the day before the 'Starfall' came and it didn't go away till the last meteor fell. How he felt it a bit before the shelter they were in was attacked by a level 9 wolf-like ARD. How when he was left alone at their temporary home he got uncomfortable and decided to run outside, then a few minutes later the house exploded due to faulty wireing and a gas leak. Lastly, how he felt something bad will happen sometime after they dock.

"W-well...that's very interesting." Melinda didn't know how to respond. He sounded truthfull and she believed him but she knew the others (Chuo may be excluded depending on his mood) wouldn't believe what he said. "I'll tell the president as soon as she comes back. You can go back now."

"Thanks. Come on, let's get geared up before the ship docks!" - Lance led them out.

-A while later-

True to Melinda's fears, they hadn't believed about Blake's 'Danger sense'. Also Chuo had gone out for some work and she was 1 vs two.

"It's just ridiculous! There's no way he can predict what will happen! Predicting the future's impossible. I thought you knew that. I didn't think you would be so naíve as to believe som first year's ramblings about some supernatural power that doesn't exist! Toughen up a bit!" - Kurama was very fed up after all the nagging from the higher-ups, especially his own father. Who by the way was one of the WPO's CEOs. Melinda was unfortunately the target for his anger this time. She knew he would apologise later because he was considerate about other people's feelings and well being all the time. You would see him bellitle people only when he was angered past the boiling point.

Alisa also had a headache. She also had to restrain herself from shouting at them and break all the equipment in the communication room.

'The nerve of them! How DARE they criticize us! Only because we're relatively new doesn't mean we do more mistakes! I swear to God they look for every SMALL mistake to be able to pick on us! It's true Romen's only been in service for 2 years and 10 months but that doesn't mean we're worse than the others! We not only have killed the most ARDs this month but saved a town, found an illegal organisation, supposedly connected to Shiroyama, and also have one Varion in our hand along with his (broken) equipment! You should congratulate us instead of scolding is for being 1 day late to arrive at the base!' - Alisa angryly thought as he rubbed her temples.

"But he wasn't lying. He believed it!"

"I also don't believe them, especially Blake, to be liars or to just want attention but I also think it's absurd. A thing like ...what you called it..'Danger sense' can't possibly exist. This is all a coincidence or maybe he blames himself for some bad stuff that happened. I don't want to talk anymore and please, can someone give me wates and some aspirin!?"

The ship soon docked and all the students left for the day to let the staff and maintence teams do their work. The only strange sight was Shin, Petia, Blake, Mary, Lance and Zane coming down with their ones on them and in semi-combat clothes. Some students even snickered.

"Don't listen to them! At least we'll be ready if something happens!" (Lance)

"Yes, and we'll kisck their buts or whatever. Don't worry, we believe you Blake." (Mary)

""Yeah."" - the others agreed.

"Now, let's go and eat something! I'm starving!" - Shin slicked his lips, thinking about all the tasty food they might serve here, with it being the main base.

"Wow. I didn't know you were such a glutton Shin!" - Mary joked.

"What? It's just that these days I'm hungrier than usual!"

"Yeah, like 'I'm gonna eat a cow' hungrier." - Blake smirked.

"Stop teasing him!" (Petia)

Lance just smiled from the side and Zane watched with curiosity. He felt some sort of weird feeling in his chest and put his hand there. Was this what the 'friendship' Lance had spoken to him about felt? All warm, dear and nice? But...also a bit empty. Like something, no, someone was missing. The image of the crying figure with the star pendant flashed in his mind.

'Who...?'

===Meanwhile somewhere in the Pacific ocean===

"We're right on coures professor! We'll arrive in about a day and a half. What should we do adter?" - Irina, the current leader asked.

Shiroyama's voice came from the comunicator.

"Wait untill the other ship arrives. The day after you attack! It would be better to release our 'gifts' for them first before you come out. That will be your task. Oh, and if possible, bind out if the third party that's been messing with our plans would appear. If so, make shire to gather some data and find who are they."

"Understood!"

Shiroyama closed and the submarine they were using returned to silence. Cala nervously glanced at the doors that lead towards the cargo area and where their so called 'gifts' were currently loaded. She clitched the necklace and prayed.

'Zane, please give me strenght! I'll avenge you. I'll kill those bastards that killed you and then I'll kill Shiroyama!'

In port Hedricks' cafeteria Zane sneezed loudly.


	23. Chapter 23: Unfortunate end

**Unfortunate ending folks**

Hello there dear readers of this mediocre but currently longest running story of mine. Whoever likes it or wants to read more, sorry but I'm finishing it here and now. The reason is because I'm a final year at school and had a sit ton of work to do and don't have the time, while having too many ideas.

I first started this story after watching the anime "Hundred". I was infuriated because I think the anime has SO MUCH potential to become a longer running show with decent plot, likeable characters, epic battles, twists, turns and mysteries. Alas, it was all ruined by the over-sexualisation, fanservice and the typical ecchi harem plot. If they had cut it down, it would have been great.

And just like this, I have lost my steam to work on this story. I know how annoying is to get hooked to something but then the author/translator axes it and leaves you hanging. That's why I decided to tell a quick review of what I had planned at first and finish this story for good, not leave it like they did with "Repure".

==================PLOT TIME!============================

After the submarine arrives, the capsuled artificial ARDs get released and our heroes are the only ones ready for it, Melinda is too by the way. Chaos ensures and many people get hurt, ships and equipment are damaged even more. Then the Varions attack. The Student counchil deals with the ARDs, which are enhaced in some way by Shiroyama.

Petya, Shin, Blake, Lance, Zane and Mary faced the Varions and some ARDs. Cala sees that Zane is fine and decides to take him with her but he refuses, they fight and she pushes him a bit too hard, he goes berserk. She gets heavyly injured and is about to be killed by Zane but he stops himself, roaring in pain. Lance knocks him out and she faints. Mary and Shin on the other hand try to stop Irina from stealing some date from the WPO's computers there, it's a data about all bases's diagrams, but they don't know it. Petya and Blake on the other hand face Xant on the North-east docks, storage depot.

Irina is too strong and almost kills Mary, however the half-dead Shin suddenly bursts in smoke, transforms and attacks Irina.

-Here's how it was going to happen-

"What the-! Gaaah!" - Irina exclaims while she's slammed in a wall in a split second.

As the smoke clears, to the horryfying expression of Mary and shocked one of Irina, Shin is revealed. He's not the same now. His eyes are cat-like and glowing in acid green. A 15 cm blade-like dark-green and black metal horn coming from the middle of his forehead. Two tear-like lines come down from his eyes and continue down his now exposed torso (his clothes were partially destroyed during the battle), sharp metal arms that look more like gauntlets and armoured feet, from his back short sharp spines were glowing like they were radioactive. Lastly two tails arounf 1m long came from his back, they were covered in black plates and had a sickle-like end.

Irina fell out of her hole in the wall and got ready for battle, taking a brief picture of Shin with the hidded device she had on her. She is about to attack when suddenly Shin appears behind her and tears off quite a bit from the right side of her torso. Mary is inable to move due to her extensive injuries.

"Damn!" - Irina curses and decides to escape, giving the retreat command to the others.

She tries to dodge and escape as best as she can but still gets hit a few more times, even gets slashed by his tails. In the end he gets angrier, his horn glows and he shoots a beam-like attack. It cuts everything it passed through and causes explosions. Irina loses a finger but has also managed to take a sample of Shin's hair that had fallen in the battle earlier. She escapes successfully.

"nNO! Shin!" - Mary shouts and uses her ONE on him.

Turns out her ONE could make a defensive bubble as long as she had the energy. She discovers a new use for it, to trap enemies in it. Shin's about to break out with his mad attacks as she's getting weaker and her vision darkens.

"Well done. Now rest. I'll take it fom here..." - a gentle and familiar, although distorted voice says behind her as a huge shadow looms over her.

The last thing she feels is a rough tap on the back of her head and a flash of bright blue. She faints.

-End-

Xant recieves the signal and runs away, leaving Petya in a bad condition, unaple to move anything from her neck down, and a bleeding Blake. Turns out Blake's ability was to sence danger and it got 'ubgraded', hence, helping him in the battle.

Everything gets to mostly normal when all the artificial ARDs are killed and collected as research material. The submarine is also gone. Lance appears with Shin, Mary, Zane and Cala on his back, looking a lot like an ant carrying a grape. Blake also comes with Petya.

Everything is explained to the Student council by the relatively unharmed Lance while the others were in hospital.

Petya is assigned an extensive therapy to be able to move like before but it was good she hadn't been crippled. Blake is getting blood transfusions. Cala is under armed watch, although she hasn't done anything other than staring at Zane, sleeping in the bed across hers. His healing factor recovering his on it's own. Shin on the other had was more tricky. He was also watched by armed guards in a separate room due to his change. he was asleep but hadn't returned completely to normal. He was stuck in a semi-form. His horn has receded to about 3-4 cm, the lines on his body and face gone, the spines only small bumbs when you moved your finger over his spine, the two tails still there but less sharp and armoured. Where the armour on his hands and legs was were only sharp nails and hardened skin left. Kumoto and Miki were currently examining the new samples taken from him.

Truns out due to his encounter with the ARD while escaping the truck and it's 'blood' getting mixed with his, also the thing he pricked his hand on was a small piece of ARD armour, where it came from only Lance knows.

At first Shin and everyone's freaked out and it takes time for them to get used to it, also for shim to learn how exactly his now transformed body works, he also has increased apetite and craving for steel. After many turmoil, both emotional, physical and political, due to some bastards in the WPO wanting him dead, he comes in terms with himself thanks to Mary. He discovers he has feelings for her but hides them, not knowing she has had crush on him ever since he chased away some bullies while they were hiding in one of the selters during the 1 year after the 'Starfall'. Cala joins them, determined to help Zane regain who he was. Miki discovers the device in her neck and removes it, this happens when it gets activated by Shiroyama in order to kill Cala.

They get prepared, Shiroyama plans her next move to disable all bases' by hacking into them. She also makes improvements on her artificial ARDs and makes a drug from the information she gathered from Shin's hair.

The forces gather in one last attempt, one last battle to decide who'll win. All bases and even WPO's HQ gets attacked by Shiroyama's army.

The drug actually turns the remaining 3 Varions, excluding No.10, into raging monstrocities that in the end were made to either self-explode or get absorbed by No.10. In order for him to become the ultimate weapon. He absorbs Irina and Xant but he's stopped before he can absorb Sam, who thanks to Miki's quick thinking was saved. In the end Lance was forced to reveal his true self.

-Here's how I imagined it-

The monstrcity that was once No.10 was going to shoot a destruction ray at them, no one could stop it.

"it's over...Just like that time a class 1 appeared, all that'll be left is destruction." - Melinda whispered.

Almost no one knew but Melinda had actually seen the downfall of the only class 1 ARD. She was much younger then, but even adults screamed and cried in terror at the sight of it, but she didn't shed a tear. She cheered for her mother that was bravely facing it in order to save everyone. Even though she had died because of it, Melinda still smiled sadly at the memory, unable to cry due to the promise she made.

'No time for crying! I have to help them! I won't allow all there people to die even if it means dying myself!' - she stood up determinately.

"Rosa Cross activate!" - a light shone and her ONE changed.

It was state secret that she owned two. Her second, the one she used untill now, and her first, an entirely defence-based ONE. It had an elegant white armour and helmet decorated with roses. On her forearms were two solind and large halfs of a shield.

She flew up and positioned herself in the way of the blast, both hands joining and it's defence protocol activated. it basically converted all energy into a hard layer to whitstand one destructive attack. Even if she survived the blast, the fall after all the energy was spent would kill her.

"Аьпх сш ѝВВВВ! ОКСН! Агсъаянх внъ0:chk ssk#s $IIn!" - a string of strange speech? sounded from behind her.

She looked and saw Lance flying towads her.

'Wait! Lance's ONE isn't capable of flight! If so...then what about these blue wings?'

He pushed her out of the way and stretched both his hand forward.

"Sorry, I've decieved you all. After all this is over, I ope you can forgive me..." - he said.

As the ray got closer, a blue orb formed between his palms, then he shot it forward. A blinding light and explosion like never before later...When everyone could see No.10 had a haping hole in the centre of his chest. He then coughed and crumbled away. Lance and Melinda land down. Lance falls to his knees and his skin cracks and also crumbles to reveal a small humanoid ARD, covered in blue lines, looking almost like a human, a human in armour of course.

-End-

After that Lance explains to them the reason he did everything and what the ARDs were.

The ARDs were in fact biological weapons of destruction, as they had guessed, used and created by the evil race of Curainh (rough translation of the alien name). They bombard planets with those asteroids, release the ARDs, kill all inteligent creatures, then harvest their bodies and those of other living beings for food and DNA to make newer and better ARDs. He was a new attempt but he gained his free will, getting rid of the controling device, the so-called core, and escaped to Earth by hitching a ride on one of the capsules. He had been gravely injured in the process of his escape and was still recovering, the reason he was so exhausted. He also told them how the mistake of Kumoto helped him a lot untill he adjusted and made his human disguise, also how he helped Shin and several others, he also apologised about the destroyed ships. Turns out a few 'Bomber' ARDs had attacked him and the fleet was destroyed by them, mostly.

After that they recover, start rebuilding the bases, making them better and improving their technology. It was untold but everyone knew that a second 'Starfall' will come some day. With Lance's help they also began improving their space technology and developing ships for combat in space. They also attempt to contact a few other alien species Lance knew fought against the Curainh, aka the Anti-Curainh alliance. He wanted to go to them at first but he ended on Earth instead.

Shin and Mary had also admitted they had feelings for eachother and were dating. Zane was also regaining his memories bit by bit but was on the right track. He had regained his personality and was no longer like a robot. Sam gave up on fighting and joined the espionage team of WPO, he was master at getting info unnoticed. Petya's confidence was getting better with Blake's constant teasing and a possible romance was budding between them, although not close, yet...

"Whenever they come, we'll be ready! We'll protect Earth at all costs..."

The End

Quite a good story, acording to me at least. What do you think? Review please.

Also if someone wants to make a continuation, he/she's welcome.

Buye for now.


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